Spatiotemporal variability of annual and seasonal rainfall time series in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract

This study analyzed spatial and temporal patterns of rainfall time series from 14 proportionally distributed stations in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 1980–2016. Both parametric and nonparametric approaches, specifically, linear regression, the Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator, were applied to detect and estimate the annual and seasonal trends after using original and notched boxplots for the preliminary interpretation. The outcomes showed high domination of positive trends in the annual and seasonal rainfall time series over the 37-year period, but most statistically significant trends were observed in the dry season. The results of trend estimation also indicated higher increasing rates of rainfall in the dry season compared to the rainy season at most stations. Even though the total amount of annual rainfall is mainly contributed by rainfall during the rainy season, the pronounced increment in the dry season can be a determining factor of possible changes in annual rainfall. Additionally, the interpolated results revealed a consistently increasing trend in the southeastern parts of the study area (i.e., Can Gio district), where annual rainfall was by far the lowest intensity compared to other regions.