Abstract Changes in land use and occupation in cities have direct consequences in the urban thermal field, whose physical and microclimate characteristics become attractive to human coexistence. This research aimed to analyze the variation of a biometeorological index and to quantitatively study the diurnal cycle of human thermal comfort in Maceió-AL, using hourly data provided by the automatic meteorological station of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) between the years 2004 to 2015. On average, there is a feeling of comfort from 00 to 09 UTC; from 11 to 20 UTC the sensation of thermal discomfort by heat prevails. After 21 UTC, the discomfort due to heat decreases and comfort begins to increase, with this feeling prevailing, with no cases of discomfort or stress due to the cold being identified. It is common, depending on the time of year, for hours of heat stress between 10 to 19 UTC, more frequently from 15 to 17 UTC. Despite discomfort and heat stress, comfort conditions prevail in most hours of the day, with no case of discomfort due to cold being observed throughout the study period.

Abstract This article assesses the applicability and effectiveness of the statistical tool “Convergence and Divergence of Moving Averages” (MACD) to the predictability of the average annual flow of the Paraná River measured in the city of Corrientes-Argentina, with a time span of 100 years. This technique is widely used in the financial market for forecasting trends and reversals in commodities and stock prices. Given the versatile nature of this technique, its parameters were easily adapted to be implemented in this study. The periods assigned to the exponential moving averages (EMA), an inherent parameter of the oscillator, allude to astronomical cycles that produce effects on the climatological variable in the addressed timescale, namely, the Schwabe Solar Cycle, with a periodicity of 11.2 years, the Lunar Nodal Cycle, of 18.6 years, and the Apsidal Lunar Cycle, of 8.85 years. There is a growing scientific understanding that such astronomical cyclical parameters do influence the terrestrial climate, especially via the modulation of ocean-atmospheric oscillations of global scale, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (ODP) and El Niño-Oscilação Sul (ENOS), which are known to be related to the variable in study, which, in turn, is responsive to the rainfall conditions that supply water to two of the most important rivers in the La Plata basin: Paraná and Uruguay. Specific properties of MACD obtained considerable performance in predicting trends of increase/decrease in several periods of that centennial data series of river flow. The use of MACD for other climate variables, such as rainfall, Sea Level Pressure and Sea Surface Temperature, is highly encouraged, in order to consummate it as an additional tool to improve confidence in climate prediction.

Abstract Changes in land use and occupation in cities have direct consequences in the urban thermal field, whose physical and microclimate characteristics become attractive to human coexistence. This research aimed to analyze the variation of a biometeorological index and to quantitatively study the diurnal cycle of human thermal comfort in Maceió-AL, using hourly data provided by the automatic meteorological station of the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) between the years 2004 to 2015. On average, there is a feeling of comfort from 00 to 09 UTC; from 11 to 20 UTC the sensation of thermal discomfort by heat prevails. After 21 UTC, the discomfort due to heat decreases and comfort begins to increase, with this feeling prevailing, with no cases of discomfort or stress due to the cold being identified. It is common, depending on the time of year, for hours of heat stress between 10 to 19 UTC, more frequently from 15 to 17 UTC. Despite discomfort and heat stress, comfort conditions prevail in most hours of the day, with no case of discomfort due to cold being observed throughout the study period.

Abstract This article assesses the applicability and effectiveness of the statistical tool “Convergence and Divergence of Moving Averages” (MACD) to the predictability of the average annual flow of the Paraná River measured in the city of Corrientes-Argentina, with a time span of 100 years. This technique is widely used in the financial market for forecasting trends and reversals in commodities and stock prices. Given the versatile nature of this technique, its parameters were easily adapted to be implemented in this study. The periods assigned to the exponential moving averages (EMA), an inherent parameter of the oscillator, allude to astronomical cycles that produce effects on the climatological variable in the addressed timescale, namely, the Schwabe Solar Cycle, with a periodicity of 11.2 years, the Lunar Nodal Cycle, of 18.6 years, and the Apsidal Lunar Cycle, of 8.85 years. There is a growing scientific understanding that such astronomical cyclical parameters do influence the terrestrial climate, especially via the modulation of ocean-atmospheric oscillations of global scale, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (ODP) and El Niño-Oscilação Sul (ENOS), which are known to be related to the variable in study, which, in turn, is responsive to the rainfall conditions that supply water to two of the most important rivers in the La Plata basin: Paraná and Uruguay. Specific properties of MACD obtained considerable performance in predicting trends of increase/decrease in several periods of that centennial data series of river flow. The use of MACD for other climate variables, such as rainfall, Sea Level Pressure and Sea Surface Temperature, is highly encouraged, in order to consummate it as an additional tool to improve confidence in climate prediction.