Date of Award

1-1-2019

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (viii, 125 pages) : color illustrations, color maps.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Lance F Bosart

Committee Members

Kristen L Corbosiero

Keywords

Caribbean, jet, subtropical, Rainstorms, Jet stream, Cyclones

Subject Categories

Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

The Caribbean region experiences a bimodal climate with a dry season during November/December–May/June and a wet season encompassing the remainder of the year. Although significant high-impact heavy rainfall events in the Caribbean are typically associated with tropical cyclones (TCs) during the wet season, significant heavy rainfall events can also occur during the Caribbean dry season without contributions from TCs. Dry season Caribbean rainstorms (CRs) can produce infrastructure- and life-threatening conditions through flooding, mudslides, and damaging winds. The most severe dry season CRs can require international aid for vital recovery resources. Severe dry season CRs can produce rainfall totals that substantially surpass climatological dry season monthly mean rainfall over a relatively short duration (2–18 days). The subtropical jet stream (STJ) plays an important role in the generation and severity of dry season CRs. The purpose of this thesis is to introduce a 35-year (1983–2017) severe dry season CR climatology derived from the Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR) precipitation dataset, and to provide a dynamical and statistical analysis of the governing synoptic-scale flow patterns preceding, accompanying, and proceeding severe dry season CRs using the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset.

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