Nonstationarity in maximum annual daily streamflow series from Southern Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Extreme streamflow values estimates are important for flood risk assessment and also for the design and operation of hydraulic structures. The behavior of this hydrological variable is under climate and land use changes effects and river’s course modifications caused by construction and operation of large reservoirs. The assumption of stationarity commonly adopted in flood frequency and magnitude analysis studies is questionable under such circumstances. In this work we identified nonstationary annual maximum streamflow series corresponding to fluviometric gauges located in Southern Brazil. A nonstationary frequency model was applied to those series and the results were compared with those of a stationary model. We also evaluated the presence of abrupt changes in the series. The results indicate that 75 of 157 series of Southern Brazil may be considered nonstationary, most of which are in the Iguazu, the Paranapanema and the Uruguay basins. For a planning horizon equal to 10 years, the return period of the present 100 years flood changes to 48-75 years when considering the nonstationary model, respectively. Abrupt changes were identified mainly as occurring in the 70’s.