Extension and Intensification of the Meso-American mid-summer drought in the twenty-first century |
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| Authors: | Sara A Rauscher Filippo Giorgi Noah S Diffenbaugh Anji Seth |
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| Institution: | (1) Earth System Physics Section, The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy;(2) Purdue Climate Change Research Center and Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA;(3) Department of Geography, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA |
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| Abstract: | Recent global-scale analyses of the CMIP3 model projections for the twenty-first century indicate a strong, coherent decreased
precipitation response over Central America and the Intra-America Seas region. We explore this regional response and examine
the models’ skill in representing present-day climate over this region. For much of Central America, the annual cycle of precipitation
is characterized by a rainy season that extends from May to October with a period of reduced precipitation in July and August
called the mid-summer drought. A comparison of the climate of the twentieth century simulations (20c3m) with observations
over the period 1961–1990 shows that nearly all models underestimate precipitation over Central America, due in part to an
underestimation of sea surface temperatures over the tropical North Atlantic and an excessively smooth representation of regional
topographical features. However, many of the models capture the mid-summer drought. Differences between the A1B scenario (2061–2090)
and 20c3m (1961–1990) simulations show decreased precipitation in the future climate scenario, mostly in June and July, just
before and during the onset of the mid-summer drought. We thus hypothesize that the simulated twenty-first century drying
over Central America represents an early onset and intensification of the mid-summer drought. An analysis of circulation changes
indicates that the westward expansion and intensification of the North Atlantic subtropical high associated with the mid-summer
drought occurs earlier in the A1B simulations, along with stronger low-level easterlies. The eastern Pacific inter-tropical
convergence zone is also located further southward in the scenario simulations. There are some indications that these changes
could be forced by ENSO-like warming of the tropical eastern Pacific and increased land–ocean heating contrasts over the North
American continent. |
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| Keywords: | Central America Climate change Mid-summer drought North Atlantic subtropical high |
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