Tinto, Odiel and Piedras (Spain)

Climate

The Tinto, Huelva, and Piedras watershed has a dry Mediterranean climate, characterized by hot, dry summers and mild winters with irregular rainfall. The average annual precipitation for the period 1980-2018 is 670 mm (Funk et al., 2015).

Monthly and spatial distribution of rainfall is highly heterogeneous, with significantly rainy months, mainly in autumn and winter, and dry summers, when periods of almost no precipitation are common. 

A study conducted in the Guadalquivir Valley, located in the province of Huelva, but outside the watershed, that analyses temperature trends from 1 temperature trends indicate an increase ranging from 0.11°C per decade for the mean annual daily maximum temperature (TMXy) to 0.58°C per decade for the mean monthly daily minimum temperature (Herrera-Grimaldi et al., 2018).

Regarding annual precipitation, projections for the 21st century indicate an estimated average reduction of 5.9% to 8.3% in the short term (2010–2040), 9.5% to 13% in the mid-term (2040–2070), and 11.8% to 19.2% in the long term (2070–2100). These reductions are expected to be more pronounced in summer, with estimated decreases ranging from 10.3% to 14.2% in the short term, 24.5% to 24.6% in the mid-term, and 24.8% to 35.8% in the long term (Centro de Estudios Hidrológicos, 2017).

Some of the effects of climate change on water resources are the long-term reduction in average annual runoff, from 18% (RCP 4.5) to 29% (RCP 8.5); and aquifer recharge rates in summer months are expected to decrease from of 41% (RCP 4.5) to 46% (RCP 8.5) (Centro de Estudios Hidrológicos, 2017).

This region of Spain is prone to droughts, being the most recent drought periods: 1950-1951, 1954, 1957, 1964, 1966-1967, 1972, 1974, 1979-1981, 1990-1995, and 2011–2017. An increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts is projected for Spain, particularly in the southern and southeastern regions of the peninsula as the 21st century progresses (Centro de Estudios Hidrológicos, 2017)

References:

Álvarez, M. J. (2021). La vida tras un desastre: El caso de Nerva, en Huelva.

Brunet, M., Jones, P. D., Sigró, J., Saladié, O., Aguilár, E., Moberg, A., Della-Maarta, P. M., Lister, D., Walther, A., & Lopez, D. (2017). Temporal and spatial temperature variability and change over Spain during 1850 2005.pdf.

Centro de Estudios Hidrológicos. (2017). Evaluación del Impacto del Cambio Climático en los Recursos Hídricos y Sequias en España.

Funk, C., Peterson, P., Landsfeld, M., Pedreros, D., Verdin, J., Shukla, S., Husak, G., Rowland, J., Harrison, L., Hoell, A., & Michaelsen, J. (2015). The climate hazards infrared precipitation with stations—A new environmental record for monitoring extremes [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.66

Herrera-Grimaldi, P., García-Marín, A., Ayuso-Muñoz, J. L., Flamini, A., Morbidelli, R., & Ayuso-Ruíz, J. L. (2018). Detection of trends and break points in temperature: The case of Umbria (Italy) and Guadalquivir Valley (Spain). Acta Geophysica, 66(3), 329-343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-018-0118-1