Trends of precipitation in Beijiang River basin, Guangdong Province, China

An analysis of spatial and temporal trends of precipitation in Beijiang River basin, Guangdong Province, China during 1959-2003 was performed using 17 time series (including monthly, annual, wet season, dry season, early flood period and late flood period totals) both on station based and sub-basin based data sets. Two nonparametric methods (Mann-Kendall and Sen's T) were used for data analysis. The results showed that (1) downward trends of temporal distribution were mostly detected during the early flood period, especially in May, while upward trends were observed in July and the dry season; (2) downward trends of spatial distribution were mostly detected in the southern Beijiang River basin, while upward trends were observed north of this area. Our results indicated a delayed rainy season and a northward trend of the precipitation belt compared to recent years. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.