Climatic Characterization and Temporal Analysis of Rainfall in the Municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul - AC, Brazil

Abstract The Climatological Water Budget (CWB) determined by the Thornthwaite and Matter (1955) allows the temporal visualization of the variables that compose the climate, thus allowing the climatic characterization of a region. Therefore, this work aimed at identifying and quantifying the months of water surplus and deficit through CWB to characterize the climate for the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul - AC, Brazil, and analyze the temporal distribution of rainfall for the municipality. We used daily precipitation and temperature values and procedures to fill in the database. We calculated the potential evapotranspiration (ETP) using the Hargreaves Samani method (1985). Subsequently, we determined the periods of soil water storage (SWS), water deficiency (DEF), and water surplus (SUR) on a monthly scale. The climate of Cruzeiro do Sul, located in the northern region of Brazil, was characterized according to the Thornthwaite (1955) as B1rA'a' for a AWC of 140 mm, that is, a humid climate with annual rainfall average of 2227 mm and real evapotranspiration of 1660 mm, with small water deficiency in the months from June to October, with no thermal deficiency, and summer concentrated in three months with an average air temperature of 25 °C ranging between 18 °C and 32 °C.