Spatio‐temporal analysis of trends in annual maximum rainfall in the North‐West of Algeria: Comparative analysis of recent and old non‐parametric methods

Abstract This article examines the spatial variability of extreme precipitation trends in northwestern Algeria (Macta) and compares the results obtained from the four recent and old non‐parametric methods. A dataset of annual maximum precipitation consisting of 41 observation years (1970–2010) and 41 rain gauges was used. The results of the four old and new methods used to detect trends, Mann–Kendall (MK), Bravais–Pearson (BP), Spearman (SR) and innovative trend analysis (ITA), show good agreement. They revealed that a decrease in the trend of annual maximum precipitation was detected during the first period (1970–1992) with −44% (MK), −61% (BP), −68% (SR) and −76% (ITA). On the other hand, in the second period (1993–2010), a total shift occurred in which a significant increase in annual maximum precipitation trends was observed with +63% (BP), +34% (MK and SR) and +93% (ITA). These results show the ability of ITA to detect partial trends that the other three tests do not allow. Our results allow decision‐makers to properly design adaptation strategies in the face of the intensification of these extreme events.