The red pottery industry and the indexes of
climatic extremes for in Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba.
Micrometeorology; Environmental impacts; Sustainability.
In recent years the Industrial sector of red pottery has developed representatively
with the implantation of micro and small Ceramics companies throughout Brazil.
There were, however, no precautions regarding the use of natural resources used as
a source of raw material for the Industry. Thus, in this study, we investigated the
indications of possible micrometeorological alterations associated to the Structural
Ceramics Industry in the meteorological elements in five ceramic poles located in
the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, during the period of 1980 to 2013.
The In order to verify if the meteorological variables: precipitation,
evapotranspiration, radiation, wind speed, humidity, and maximum and minimum
temperature presented tendencies, the Mann Kendal test was used; And to calculate
the indexes of climatic extremes was used the Data Set for Indexes of Climatic
Extremes - RClimDex. Five ceramic poles were identified, where there were
negative trends for precipitation, minimum temperature, relative humidity and wind.
And, positive trends for the variables maximum temperature, evapotranspiration and
solar radiation. There was a trend in all poles, except for the minimum temperature
for the P2 pole, which has a higher number of ceramics. A trend was also identified
for the indexes of climatic extremes of Rx1day, R99p, Txn, Tnx, Tn10p, Tx10p, Txx
and Tnn. With positive trends of temperature extremes for all poles studied, with the
exception of pole P1, which showed a decreasing trend, thus indicating a decrease
in the maximum values of the minimum temperature; And the P2 pole that did not
show a trend. These contrary behaviors may be associated with anthropic actions in
the region, specifically the intense ceramist activity. However, it can not be said
categorically that this behavior is associated only with anthropic actions, since it
may be under the influence of global climatic factors.