Trend of Annual Maximum Rainfall in Campania Region (Southern Italy)

Extreme rainfall events are increasing in both number and intensity at global scale; however, it is hard to quantify the impact of climate change at local scale given the strong temporal and spatial heterogeneity of this process. Moreover, limited data availability and its spatial variability requires significant effort to identify specific trends at the regional level. In this study, we attempt to construct a detailed description of rainfall patterns and trends over the Campania region, southern Italy. For this reason, the dataset of rainfall annual maxima in pre-assigned durations was constructed using all available records and extended using interpolation methods such as inverse distance weighting and ordinary kriging methods. The rainfall dataset allowed actual trends over the region to be quantified using the Mann-Kendall trend test and the record-breaking analysis. The trend test reveals that most of the rainfall stations display no statistically significant trend, however, an increasing trend of extreme rainfall for short durations, in specific portions of the region, is observed.