Climate scientists create Caribbean drought atlas.
Cornell atmospheric scientists have developed the first-of-its-kind, high-resolution Caribbean drought atlas, with data going back to 1950.
Concurrently, the researchers confirmed the region’s 2013-16 drought was the most severe in 66 years due to consistently higher temperatures – a hint that climate change is to blame.
“This is especially important for the Caribbean, since many of its nations are some of the most vulnerable to severe drought,” said co-author Dimitris Herrera, a doctoral candidate who, with Toby Ault, professor of atmospheric science, report online June 30 in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate.
Since 1950, the Caribbean has been affected by notable droughts in 1974-77, 1997-98, 2009-10 and in 2013-16.
For the 40 million people in the region, drought is the likeliest cause of severe food shortage and it is a key issue for Caribbean food security, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.
The latest dry interval is related to El Niño-driven precipitation deficits and to temperature-related evapotranspiration.
High temperatures made this the worst drought event in decades, according to the researchers.
“However, from the perspective of temperature anomalies, where we think climate change is probably playing a role, the 2013-16 event was worse than in 1974-76.
“The recent drought was very harsh for farmers in the Dominican Republic,” Herrera said.