Elevation of Central American orography significantly reduces the pervasive tropical rainfall bias by blocking the easterlies and consequently warming the northeastern tropical Pacific.
Central America
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Subduction May Recycle Less Water Than Thought
A new analysis of seismic data from the Middle America Trench suggests that previous calculations have vastly overestimated the total amount of water transported to the mantle worldwide.
Posted inScience Updates
Torrential Rains and Poor Forecasts Sink Panama’s Infrastructure
Scientists are working to improve the forecasting of heavy rains in Panama following several events over the past decade that caused substantial flooding and damage.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Evolution of Observed Hurricane Eyewall Shapes
The observational evidence of the wind field of Hurricane Michael using radar imagery showed an eyewall structure evolution with elliptical, triangular, and square shapes for the first time.
Posted inNews
Scientists Support Local Activities to Rescue the Mesoamerican Reef
The reef’s report card analyzed 286 sites in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Communities, scientists, and governments are working to improve coral and ecosystem resilience.
Posted inScience Updates
Microbial Influences on Subduction Zone Carbon Cycling
An innovative collaboration is investigating how geobiological processes alter fluxes of carbon and other materials between the deep Earth and the surface.
Posted inNews
Eruption in El Salvador Was One of the Holocene’s Largest
Roughly 1,500 years ago, the Tierra Blanca Joven eruption blanketed Central America in ash and likely displaced Maya settlements, new research shows.
Posted inOpinions
Climate Change’s Pulse Is in Central America and the Caribbean
Nations that border the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea are ideally placed for tracking the effects of global climate change and testing innovative ways to adapt to future changes.
Posted inScience Updates
An Early Warning System for Landslide Danger
Advances in satellite imaging, mapping, and rainfall estimations have made it possible to implement a regional real-time assessment of landslide hazard threats across Central America.