Abstract
Characterization of the Mid Summer Drought in two Pacific slope river basins of Costa Rica, Central America. The Eastern Tropical Pacific region is characterized by climate features rarely observed in tropical regions, one of them is the Mid-Summer Drought (MSD), “veranillo” or “canícula” in Spanish. On the Pacific slope of Central America, the annual precipitation cycle is characterized by two rainfall maxima in June and September-October, an extended dry season from November to May, and a shorter reduced precipitation period during July–August (MSD), during July, the magnitude of the trade winds increases and this is associated also with the Caribbean Low Level Jet (CLLJ), but characterization of these features using monthly data is difficult. In this work, seven daily gauge stations records, located at two important river basins of Costa Rica, Tarcoles and Tempisque, were studied to characterize the MSD from 1937 to 2012. Among the aspects considered are the MSD Start, Timing, End, Duration, Intensity and Magnitude. The modulation and seasonal predictability of these aspects by climate variability sources as Equatorial Eastern Pacific was lately explored, showing that warmer (cooler) conditions in Niño 3.4 tend to be associated to drier (wetter) MSD events. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 4): 1-15. Epub 2014 Diciembre 01.
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