Abstract

VELAZQUEZ RUIZ, Antonio; MARTINEZ R, Luis Manuel  and  CARRILLO GONZALEZ, Fátima Maciel. Climatic characterization of the Banderas Bay Region using Köppen's system modified by García and Geographic Information Systems techniques. Invest. Geog [online]. 2012, n.79, pp.7-19. ISSN 2448-7279.

The identification of different climatic zones can be an important factor for decision-makers in various fields such as urban planning and agricultural alternatives. In order to characterize the climates of the region of Bahía de Banderas (BB) Mexico, we adopted a methodology that combines the use of the Köppen climate classification modified by García for Mexico and methods of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). We used simple regression between temperature (dependent variable) and height as independent variable. Multiple regressions were applied for rainfall (dependent variable) and geographical data as independent variables (thermal continentality, thermopluviometric index and slope). The temperature and precipitation data were obtained from the Comisión Nacional del Agua, and ERIC III, 2006 database. Information from geographical variables was obtained from a Digital Elevation Model and Gorzynski's Index of Continentality. The coefficients of simple and multiple regressions were used to construct digital maps of annual temperature and precipitation via GIS. With these maps and using the CCK-EG tool, we generated the final map of climatic characterization. The result was highly representative. The determination coefficients were 0.82 and 0.39 for temperature and precipitation respectively. The resulting classification for each of the stations was located in their corresponding climate zone on the final map. Zones and climatic limits were identified for this study region.

Keywords : Bay of Banderas (Mexico); climate; GIS; Köppen-García.