Abstract

This study analyzed the influence of climate change on peak flow behavior in the metropolitan region, Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins region and the area of Maule, central Chile. To this end, the Gumbel's PDF was applied, with which the best results for fitting peak flows were obtained, considering return periods of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years. Thanks to the time-series segmentation of data, we concluded that the flow values tended to increase during the most recent periods. This is illustrated with mean values, trend charts and fitting of probability distribution functions. Finally, it was graphically and statistically shown that during recent years there has been an increase in maximum annual flows, which could be confirmed through hydrological climate change processes which have increasingly contributed to the flows through decreased snowpacks and glacial retreat from increased temperatures.