The aim of this study was to identify trends in extreme precipitation indices on the Paraíba State, and to correlate them with the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The daily precipitation data for the period 1935-2004, were from 23 rain gauges belonging to Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET). To calculate the extreme rainfall indexes the RClimdex software was used. Then, the statistical least squares method and the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test were applied to identify trends and their statistical significance. The correlation between the extreme precipitation indices and the SST were then calculated. It was found a higher number of sites with positive trends in the period 1935 to 1969, and the highest correlations were with the Atlantic. The Sertão and Agreste Mesoregions of Paraiba state were well related to SST anomalies in the Atlantic, Pacific and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), Borborema with the AMO and the Atlantic and the Litoral with Atlantic.
Semiarid; ITCZ; Mann-Kendal; RClimdex; Atlantic Ocean; Pacific Ocean
