{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T22:22:35Z","timestamp":1776723755957,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,2]],"date-time":"2022-02-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1643760000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003593","name":"National Council for Scientific and Technological Development","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["558135\/2009-9"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["558135\/2009-9"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003593","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Water scarcity in dry tropical regions is expected to intensify due to climate change. Characterization of rainfall events is needed for a better assessment of the associated hydrological processes, and the proposition of adaptation strategies. There is still no consensus on the most appropriate method to separate rainfall events from a continuous database, although the minimum inter-event time (MIET) is a commonly used criterion. Semi-arid regions of low latitudes hold a distinct rainfall pattern compared to their equivalent at higher latitudes; these seasonally dry tropical forests experience strong spatial\u2013temporal variability with intense short-duration rainfall events, which, in association with high energy surplus and potential evaporation, leads to an atmospheric water deficit. In this study, we identified the most adequate MIET based on rainfall data continuously measured at 5-min intervals over the last decade (2009\u20132020) in the semi-arid northeast of Brazil. The rainfall events were grouped according to different MIETs: 15 min, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h to determine rainfall depth, duration and intensity at intervals of 5, 30, and 60 min, time between events, and respective temporal distribution, with and without single tip events. Including single tip events in the dataset affected the number of rainfall events and respective characteristics up to a MIET of 3 h. A MIET of 6 h is the most appropriate to characterize the rainfall distribution in this tropical semi-arid region. Three classes were defined based on rainfall depth, duration, and intensity: I-small events (77% below 40 mm and 32 mm\/h), II-high intensity events (3% between 36 and 76 mm\/h), III-longer events of higher depth (20%). This study is useful for understanding how the MIET relates to other ecohydrological processes and provides more precise information on the rainfall characteristics at the event scale.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su14031721","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,11]],"date-time":"2022-02-11T02:40:17Z","timestamp":1644547217000},"page":"1721","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":29,"title":["Minimum Rainfall Inter-Event Time to Separate Rainfall Events in a Low Latitude Semi-Arid Environment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jos\u00e9 Bandeira","family":"Brasil","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Cear\u00e1\u2013UFC, Fortaleza 60020-181, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6774-9348","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Simas","family":"Guerreiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FP-ENAS, University Fernando Pessoa, 4249-004 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Eunice Maia de","family":"Andrade","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Federal University of the Semi-Arid Region, Mossor\u00f3 59625-900, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Helba Ara\u00fajo","family":"de Queiroz Pal\u00e1cio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Cear\u00e1, Iguatu 63500-000, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4879-3148","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pedro Henrique Augusto","family":"Medeiros","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Cear\u00e1, Iguatu 63500-000, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9544-009X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jacques Carvalho","family":"Ribeiro Filho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Cear\u00e1\u2013UFC, Fortaleza 60020-181, Brazil"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"482","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2018.11.215","article-title":"Dryland changes under different levels of global warming","volume":"655","author":"Koutroulis","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci. 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