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There is a widely held view that the Pampa region (PR) dry and wet periods are predominantly a consecuence of the El Niño-Southern oscillation (ENSO) phenomenom. The current paper focuses on non-ENSO rainfall anomalies for the period 1948–2000, the more recent of which have had catastrophic consequences throughout the region. We analyze horizontal water vapor transport, pressure and circulation anomalies occurring in Southern South America (SSA) during this type of event. Positive and negative (wet and dry) extreme events during the rainy and dry seasons in the region were registered. Based on NCEP reanalysis data it was established that under rainfall deficit, anomalies of similar intensity occurred simultaneously in the PR and in central Chile, whereas under excess rainfall the anomalies were mostly confined to the PR. The existence of a cyclone-anticyclone pair in the anomalous circulation pattern over mid latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and straddling the southern portion of the continent maintains an intense and extense meridional circulation over the continental plains, which leads to the abnormal values in moisture transport and rainfall rate. The atmospheric water balance equation calculated for the PR indicates that anomalous water vapor is carried in from the continental equatorial region and from the subtropical Atlantic, its magnitude varying in accordance with the season and the sign of the anomaly. Furthermore, evidence of the important role of transient terms corroborates their contribution to the anomalous total moisture flux divergence under rainfall deficit during the dry season. The mean sea-level pressure anomaly fields of the extreme cases were further examined by principal component analysis to discern those circulation features directly linked to rainfall deviations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to find a synergism between maximum solar activity and rains in Azul, Buenos Aires (36°45' S, 59°57' W and altitude. 137 m ), using a series of annual rainfalls from 1913 to 2012. The results showed that the last four solar activity maxima correspond to the years of highest rainfall. Annual rainfalls for those years recorded on average 1317mm (2.4 standard deviation above the mean), which was significantly different from the mean of the last hundred years (855.7mm ±191.1 mm). A positive relationship between years of maximum solar activity and the occurrence of extreme rainfall events that generate excess water and flooding in the rural and urban sectors of Azul was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present the partial trends of rainy days and total precipitation in Córdoba Province, Argentina, during the period 1960–2010 and the full range of precipitation for the Córdoba Observatory station, which has the longest measurement record in Argentina, 1873–2010, and to show the relationship between these variables and solar activity. A strong association is shown between break points when the trend changes for both the number of rainy days and the total precipitation, and the occurrence of maxima in the sunspot cycle, indicating that these variables are modulated by the solar Hale cycle and probably by the influence of cosmic rays. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Conventional surface data and quantitative estimations of precipitation are used to document the occurrence and spatial distribution of severe weather phenomena associated with deep moist convection over southeastern South America. Data used in this paper are 24-hour rainfall, maximum hourly gusts and present weather reports from the surface station network for Argentina to the north of 40°S and cover the period 2000–2005. Hourly rainfall estimated with the CMORPH technique (CPC MORPHing technique, R. J. Joyce et al., 2004) is included in the analysis in order to increase the density of the precipitation database from January 2003 to December 2005. Extreme events are detected by means of a 95th-percentile analysis of the 24-hour rainfall and wind; values greater than 30mm and 25ms−1 respectively are considered extreme in the study area. These results are related to the presence of deep convection by considering the 235K and 218K cloud shield evolution in Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-12 Infrared (GOES-IR) imagery evaluated by the Forecasting and Tracking of Cloud Cluster (FORTRACC) technique. Rainfall above 30mmday−1 and present convection-related weather events tend to occur in the northeast of the country. Finally, an analysis is made of the relationship between severe phenomena and the location and lifecycle of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) defined by the 218K or 235K levels. According to the reports, favorable locations for severe weather concentrate to the northeast of the cloud shield anvil centroid although most of the cases are found in the northwest. This feature can be seen in systems with anvil areas larger than 250,000km2 in association to the predominant mid-level wind shear direction from the northwest over the area. Moreover, systems with centers located north of 30°S present a more circular shape while those to the south are more elongated with a NW–SE main axis clearly related to the presence and interaction with frontal zones over the area. Most of the events occur previous to the moment when the systems reach their maximum extension, between 2 and 10h after the initiation of the system depending on the size of the MCSs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Extreme values of two circulation indices are examined for the time series covering the period 1960-2006. The influence of circulation on surface temperature and rainfall in Argentina is analysed using a zonal index Z and a meridional index R at the 1000 and 500 hPa levels. Seasonal means for all the years representing extreme negative values of R( Z) at 1000 and/or 500 hPa, determine mainly positive (negative) temperature anomalies with increased rainfall in both indices. These characteristics revert for extreme positive values of R( Z). At 1000 hPa, seasonal anomaly trends of R are negative and significant. Trends of Z are all positive and significant, except for winter when they are not significant. Signs of trends at 500 hPa are the same as at 1000 hPa, except for Z in winter and R in summer, whose values are not significant. Annual and seasonal trends of the anomalies of Z differences between 500 and 1000 hPa, are mostly negative, which implies a decrease in baroclinicity in southernmost South America. Analysis of the statistical values obtained for both variables generated by extreme values of R and Z, and of the signs and significance of index trends at 1000 hPa indicates that both circulation indices might contribute to surface temperature warming during the last years of the period 1960/2006. The increase in R, whose influence is greater than that of Z, might contribute to greater rainfall. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eastern area of La Pampa Province, Argentina, lies in a transition zone between the humid temperate climate stretching east and the steppe climate stretching west. The area is thus very sensitive to abrupt changes in rainfall. In order to determine the long-term occurrence of such phenomena, long-term annual precipitation series (1921-2004) from 17 stations in the study area were analyzed using the Buishand and Pettitt tests. Results showed a sharp increase in annual rainfall at the southern stations in the 1960s and at the northern and central stations in the 1970s. Increased rainfall can be considered one of the reasons for the subsequent expansion in land planted to crops in the region. While a rapid increase in rainfall can be seen as positive, some researchers believe that if an abrupt decrease in rainfall occurred in future and continued for long, the carrying capacity of the environment could be exceeded, leading to decreased production and environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical models for rainfall downscaling based on multiple linear regression techniques have been developed and tested in the Andean Region of west Argentina, an extended mountainous region where three different rain regimes predominate and rainfall has great spatial and temporal variability. The verification procedure was focused on the model’s ability to reproduce observed rainfall trends in recent decades. In the northwest of Argentina, domain of the tropical summer rain regime, the monthly rainfall variance accounted for by downscaling models was 77% on average and models reproduced satisfactorily the negative linear trend observed in the last two decades of the past century. In the arid central-west Argentina, a region of rapid transition between two different rain regimes, model performance was rather poor (an average of 50% of explained variance), even so models were able to capture outstanding differences in the linear trend between the northern and southern sectors of the region. In the southwest of Argentina, domain of the mid-latitude winter rain regime, the monthly variance accounted for by downscaling models was 71% on average and models were capable to reproduce a singular change in the onset of the rainy season that occurred during the 1990s. The results achieved demonstrate that it is feasible to establish significant and useful statistical relationships between atmospheric variables and rainfall at monthly and river basin scales, even for a topographically complex region like western Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]