Copyright (c) 2026 REICIT

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Rainfall is one of the most significant natural phenomena in tropical regions due to its environmental, social, and economic impact particularly in the management of water resources. In Panama, the topography and the interaction between Pacific and Caribbean oceanic masses result in marked spatial variability in precipitation, as evidenced by the pluviometric contrasts between both slopes. This study aimed to identify climatically homogeneous regions based on monthly accumulated precipitation in Panama during the period 1980–2010. To achieve this, records from meteorological stations with continuous data were used. After undergoing statistical quality control processes, the sample was refined to 76 valid meteorological stations. Subsequently, multivariate statistical techniques were applied specifically Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis using Euclidean Distance and Ward’s method. The results revealed two major climatic regions corresponding to the Pacific (62 meteorological stations) and Caribbean (16 meteorological stations) slopes, further subdivided into 10 and 2 homogeneous subregions, respectively. These findings confirm the effectiveness of multivariate techniques for climate regionalization in tropical areas and provide a solid scientific foundation for the sustainable management and planning of water resources in Panama.