Physics Department, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa
Jury, M.R., Physics Department, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, South Africa
The 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 s21 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 benefit from an ever-increasing stream of mesoscale datasets. © 2013.
Antilles; Impacts on resources; Kinematic control; Marine environment; Operational model; Population densities; Quick scatterometer (QuikSCAT); Surface temperatures; Atmospheric temperature; Commerce; Groundwater; Marine biology; Ocean currents; Population statistics; Wakes; Climate models; anticyclone; atmospheric dynamics; climate effect; climatology; island; kinematics; mesoscale meteorology; QuikSCAT; rainfall; sea surface temperature; thermodynamics; trade wind; wake; Turks and Caicos Islands