Turks and Caicos Islands Climate and Its Impacts

Earth Interactions

Mark R.Jury¹ 

关键词: Antilles climate;    Marine environment;    Impacts on resources;    Caicos Island wind wake;   

DOI  :  10.1175/2012EI000490.1

学科分类：地球科学(综合)

来源: American Geophysical Union

【 摘 要 】

AbstractThe Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) climate is described using mesoscale ocean and atmosphere datasets with a focus on thermodynamic versus kinematic controls, the influence of the nearby island of Hispaniola, and factors affecting early colonization and fluctuations of marine resources. The key findings include the following: trade winds accelerate to 7 m s−1 north of Hispaniola and enhance anticyclonic subsidence; there is a dry-south/wet-north pattern of rainfall that opposes surface temperature and salinity fields; ocean currents near TCI are northwestward but there is a counterclockwise gyre near Haiti that guided colonization; conch catch increases when trade winds strengthen and SST declines; TCI's dry climate limits groundwater resources, food production, and population density; and Caicos Island sheds a wind wake that boosts SST and local convection, as evident in Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) observations and operational model products. Further studies of small island climates will benef...

【 授权许可】

Unknown