14B.3
Study of the factors that induced an unusual drought in Guadeloupe (FWI)
Christian Asselin de Beauville, Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, Pointe ŕ Pitre, Guadeloupe; and F. Pagney, A. Bonneton, B. Dudon, and C. A. Pontikis
The time period between October 2000 and June 2001 was an extremely dry period for the French West Indies and more specifically for the island of Guadeloupe. The precipitation deficit was important whereby precipitation amounts were 2 or 3 times lower than the usual amounts.
In this paper, the meteorological factors that induced this drought have been examined in relation to the location and corresponding behavior of the main low and high pressure centers located at the North and South of the Caribbean archipelago.
It appears that the above mentioned drought coincided with unusual series of observed meteorological situations either driving semi-continental air masses issued from the African continent or lowering the western flux circulation level down to the 700-800mb level. In the latter case, a high level divergence was observed at the 300mb level. This divergence was roughly located between Puerto-Rico and the island of Guadeloupe and could be related to a water vapor poor corridor (easily visible on the GOES 8 WV channel images) that most probably influenced the precipitation behavior in the island neighborhood.
An attempt is also made in order to relate the above mentioned meteorological situations to the Pacific atmospheric circulation and corresponding SSTs anomalies.
Session 14B, Climate Processes in the Americas and Eastern Pacific II (Parallel with Sessions 14A, 14C, and 14D)
Thursday, 2 May 2002, 2:00 PM-3:15 PM
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