On then minimum of the Cuyo rivers discharge

CARRIL A. F., M. E. DOYLE, V. BARROS AND M. N. NUÑEZ

Climate Research

Inter-Research

Año: 1997 vol. 9 p. 121 - 129

The discharge in the argentine rivers of San Juan and Mendoza is studied withspecial interest during the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s when aminimum in the volume of water endangered the economy of this region.Applying different statistic methods, such as correlations and cross-spectrumanalysis, a high association between the temperatures registered in the equatorial andChilean coast Pacific regions, the Southern Oscillation Index and the river discharge isfound. The principal frequencies of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation phenomenon arepresent in the behaviour of the rivers, but also a 43 year cycle is found explaining thescarce water resources available in this argentine area years ago.This relationship will benefit in anticipating the summer forecast of the riverflow in at least a couple of months before the measurement of snowfall in the mountaintops, main source of water of the local economy, is performed.