Long-term variability of seasonal rainfall characteristics in the Philippines

Abstract

To clarify how rainfall characteristics will change with climate change, longer-term changes in rainfall characteristics in the Philippines since the 20^th century was studied by combining the historical observation record and current station data. As a result, number of summer and winter rainy days significantly tended to decrease in the entire Philippines and the northwestern part, respectively. Summer rainfall amounts tended to decrease with a 10-year cycle, especially in the northwest part of the Philippines. On the other hand, in winter, heavy rainfalls tended to increase with a 10-year cycle especially in east coastal region since the late 1990s.