Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and “Studentt”
significance tests were used for evaluating the
existence of the relationships between monthly rainfall
erosive variables and SST indices. The correlation study
was conducted taking into account positive and
negative monthly oscillations, meaning trends in El-Niño
and La-Niña episodes, respectively. These procedures
were also used by Chandimala and Zubair (2007) and Lü
et al. (2011) to evaluate the relationships between rainfall
and discharge in headwater region of the Yellow River
and in Sri-Lanka. D’Odorico et al. (2001) also studied
the possible relationships between rainfall erosivity and
SST indices for the Southwest US based on this
procedure.