Aiuaba Experimental Basin, Brazil

Location

The Aiuaba experimental basin is located in the municipality of Aiuaba, State of Ceará, Northeast of Brazil (watershed’s outlet 6°42’S; 40°17’W). It is located inside the Brazilian ‘drought polygon’, the tropical semiarid area of the country, with high inter-annual and intra-annual precipitation variability, average precipitation of 650 mm.yr-1, class A pan evaporation of 2,550 mm.yr-1, and monthly average temperatures ranging from 24°C to 28°C.

Catchment size

The Aiuaba catchment has an area of 12 km2.

Climate

Tropical semiarid area of the country, with high inter-annual and intra-annual precipitation variability, average precipitation of 650 mm.yr-1, class A pan evaporation of 2,550 mm.yr-1, and monthly average temperatures ranging from 24°C to 28°C. According to the Köppen classification system, its climate is ‘Bs’. In the basin 78% of the rainfall corresponds to real evapotranspiration, 13% to runoff and 9% to percolation.