About the influence of the African Easterly Waves in northern South America

Hidroclimatology over northern South America and the Caribbean is influenced by a large variety of phenomena exhibiting different space-time scales. In particular, African Easterly Waves (AEW) are an important dynamic feature that modulates convection and dust transport over the region. Thus, characterizing the activity of AEWs over northern South America and the Caribbean is an imperative work to do in order to improve our understanding of the tropical atmospheric dynamics that rules hydrology and climate over this region. The latter regulates the availability of key natural resources such as water, which represents an important resource for economic activities and social dynamics of the populations that occupy these highly populated areas. In order to identify the influence of the AEW activity over northern South America and the Caribbean Sea, we study the relationship between these perturbations and the occurrence or non-occurrence of precipitation in the region. Particularly, we compare AEW tracking methodologies proposed in previous research, aiming to implement a tracking methodology that captures efficiently the activity of these waves over the region. Furthermore, we characterized AEW trajectory, isolating those perturbations reaching lower latitudes toward northern South America from those following northward paths toward Central America, during the different seasons. As a remarkable event, we identify a particular AEW that reached central Colombia by late June 2014, transporting large amounts of Saharan dust over this mountain region. This anomalous event suggests a possible influence of the AEWs on aerosols transport from the Saharan Desert to northern South America.