Identification

Title

Topographic-thermal circulations and GPS-measured moisture variability around Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

Abstract

To investigate topographic-thermal circulations and the associated moisture variability over western Puerto Rico, field data were collected from 15 to 31 March 2011. Surface meteorological instruments and ground-based GPS receivers measured the circulation and precipitable water with high spatial and temporal resolution, and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model was used to simulate the mesoscale flow at 1-km resolution. A westerly onshore flow of similar to 4ms(-1) over Mayaguez Bay was observed on many days, due to an interaction between thermally driven [3 degrees C (10 km)(-1)] sea-breeze circulation and an island wake comprised of twin gyres. The thermally driven sea breeze occurred only when easterly synoptic winds favorably oriented the gyres with respect to the coast. Moisture associated with onshore flow was characterized by GPS measured precipitable water (PW). There is diurnal cycling of PW > 3 cm over the west coast during periods of onshore flow. The WRF Model tends to overestimate PWon the west side of the island, suggesting evapotranspiration as a process needing further attention. Fluctuations of PW affect local rainfall in times of convective instability.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7th8r71

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-01-05T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact