Poster
Where is the water coming from in Puerto Rico? Temporal and regional dynamics of precipitation in Puerto Rico as determinated by isotopic signatures of ð ¹⁸O and ð D.
Registro en:
Autor
Govender, Y.
Cuevas, E.
Sternberg, L.
Institución
Resumen
The annual amount, pattern, frequency and intensity of precipitation determine
ecosystem dynamics and ground water recharge. Global climate change and regional
climate variability are influencing precipitation dynamics in our region. To what extent are
these factors determining the eco-hydrology of the island needs to be assessed. The
location of Puerto Rico in the upper northeastern portion of the Caribbean and the Central
Mountain range that divides the island results in the island being affected by both
northeasterly trades in the northern part and southeasterly trades in the south. Therefore
the origin of precipitation events can vary depending on geographic location, time of the
year and strong meteorogical events. In general the natural abundance of ð ¹⁸O and ð D in precipitation fluctuate with latitude and altitude 2, seasons1 and by unusual
meteorological events such as monsoons3, hurricanes and tropical storms1,4. Therefore
we can utilize the variation of the natural abundance of ð ¹⁸O and ð D in precipitation to trace the origins of precipitation and groundwater recharge1.
We analyzed the sources of precipitation on two contrasting sites in Puerto Rico:
Northeastern (Rio Piedras) and southwestern region (Guánica Dry Forest, ) as they
represent the moist region (1800 mm annual precipitation) and the semiarid region (760
mm annual precipitation) in the island. Rio Piedras and Guánica have a bimodal
pattern, usual for the Caribbean region, with precipitation peak in May-June and relative
minimum in December-March and July-August. The Guánica Dry Forest, however has
unpredictable year to year annual and monthly precipitation.
We hypothesized that isotopic signatures of (ð¹⁸O and ðD)of precipitation in the
Guánica Dry Forest (GDF) (southwest) and Rio Piedras (RP) (northeast) will reflect the
sources and amount of precipitation We also tested the hypothesis that the isotopic
signature of groundwater in the Guánica Dry Forest will be similar to the isotopic
signature of precipitation because there will be very little evaporation prior to infiltration as
Guánica Dry Forest is found on highly permeable limestone bedrock with little soil to
retain precipitation.