Spatial and temporal characteristics of the annual rainfall frequency distribution in Cyprus

This study is a statistical analysis of the time series of rainfall-recording stations in Cyprus. The aim of this analysis is the better appreciation of the spatio-temporal changes of annual rainfall. For the needs of the present study, the Gamma distribution was fitted to the rainfall records. The characteristics of this distribution were determined for each of the thirty-year periods that are consecutively formed in the time period spanning from 1917 to 2006. The results have shown that there exists a distinct temporal and spatial change of the annual rainfall amounts, as they can be determined by the characteristics of the distribution that was utilized. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.