The climate of the Esquinas rainforest

2008·0.31 MB·English

by  Weissenhofer, Anton

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The climate of the Esquinas rainforest1
El clima del bosque lluvioso Esquinas
Anton WEISSENHOFER & Werner HUBER
Abstract:AbriefsurveyisgivenoftheclimaticsituationoftheEsquinasrainforest(PiedrasBlancasNationalPark),basedon
precipitation,temperatureandothermeteorologicaldatagatheredbetween1999and2007atthe“TropenstationLaGamba”.
Withanannualprecipitationofc.5.836mm,theEsquinasforestbelongstothewettestlowlandforestsinCostaRicaandinthe
wholeofCentralAmerica.Rainfallisnotevenlydistributedthroughouttheyear.ThereisadeclinefromJanuarytoMarch(al-
thoughnotusuallycausingawaterdeficit),andasecond,shorterandlesspronounceddeclineinJulyand/orAugust(“veranil-
lo”). Rainfall is highest in September and October. Temperatures are more uniform throughout the year (average 28.2°C).
Nonetheless,theremayoccurmuchvariation,particularlyastorainfallandastotheeffectofElNiño.
Key words: Costa Rica, Esquinas forest, Piedras Blancas National Park, climate, precipitation, temperature, humidity, wind,
storms,ElNiño.
Resumen:SedaaaconocerunabreveinvestigaciónsobrelasituaciónclimáticadelbosquelluviosoEsquinas(ParqueNacional
PiedrasBlancas),basadaenlaprecipitación,temperaturayotrosdatosmeteorológicosobtenidosentre1999y2007enla“Esta-
ciónTropicallaGamba“.Conunaprecipitaciónanualde5,836mm,elbosqueEsquinaspertenecealosbosqueslluviososenCos-
taRicayAméricaCentral,respectivamente.Lalluvianoesconstantedurantetodoelaño.HayunadeclinacióndeEneroaMar-
zo(queusualmentenoproduceundéficitdeagua),yunasegundadeclinación,masbreveynotanpronunciada,enJulioy/oAgos-
to(“veranillo”).LalluviaesabundanteenSeptiembreyOctubre.Latemperaturaesuniformeatravésdelaño(promedio28,2°C).
Noobstante,puedeexistirmuchavariación,enparticularenloreferidoalasprecipitacionesyalefectodeElNiño.
Palabrasclave:CostaRica,bosqueEsquinas,ParqueNacionalPiedrasBlancas,clima,precipitación,temperatura,humedad,vien-
to,tormentas,ElNiño.
Introduction and dry (December to April) seasons, with heaviest
rainfalls occurring in October and November. On the
The climate is the most important factor shaping
Central American isthmus, and particularly in Costa
thevegetationinagivenarea.Thepresentpaperdeals
Rica,thispatternismodifiedtoaconsiderabledegree
brieflywiththeclimaticsituationoftheEsquinasrain-
by the presence and orientation of the mountain
forest (Piedras Blancas National Park), based on data
ranges.Duringthemonthswiththehighestprecipita-
collectedatthe“TropenstationLaGamba”(LaGamba tion(AugusttoNovember),rainfalloccursonalmost
Field Station). Apart from rainfall (precipitation) and everyday.Typically,therainfallisintheafternoonand
temperature,otherfactorssuchashumidity,stormsand duringthenight,inshort,heavyshowers.InSeptem-
specialconditions(ElNiño)areaddressed. berandOctober,itmayevenrainforperiodsofupto
24hours.ThedriestmonthsareJanuary,Februaryand
Rainfall March and during that time there may be no rainfall
forseveralconsecutivedays.Anothershortdrierperi-
The Esquinas forest (Piedras Blancas National od (approximately three weeks) may occur in July
Park)isoneofthewettestlowlandforestsinCostaRi- and/or August. This is called the “veranillo” (“little
caandinthewholeofCentralAmerica.Thisisdueto summer”).
the rain gradient caused by the mountains of the Fila
Meteorologicaldatahavebeenrecordedsince1998
Crucesrange.Generally,onthePacificsideofCentral
attheTropenstationLaGambaandcompletedatasets Stapfia88,
America there are distinct rainy (May to November) zugleichKatalogeder
forprecipitationandtemperaturesareavailableforthe
oberösterreichischen
years1999to2007(Tab.1,Fig.1).Duringthatperiod, Landesmuseen
NeueSerie80(2008):
1UpdatedandmodifiedversionofWEISSENHOFER&HUBER2001. the average annual precipitation was 5.836 mm. The 59-62
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Tab.1:Rainfall(mm)during1999to2007attheTropenstationLaGamba.
Tropenstation 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Average
LaGamba
January 397 294 307 179 243 196 131 209 161 235
February 321 77 210 185 192 72 364 78 163 185
March 273 233 176 192 128 408 388 316 169 254
April 507 374 220 265 227 334 503 374 425 359
May 397 486 622 340 526 931 495 548 1000 594
June 566 612 498 477 497 433 572 459 512 514
July 470 473 584 643 714 508 592 540 502 558
August 742 683 499 389 554 730 588 416 766 596
September 998 1209 710 946 456 709 700 556 716 778
October 633 741 781 750 869 828 664 839 909 779
November 684 641 926 411 612 366 797 580 767 642
December 410 250 477 473 274 148 217 331 516 344
Total 6398 6072 6008 5247 5290 5658 6008 5243 6602 5836
Tab.2:ClimaticdatafortheTropenstationLaGamba.
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Totalannualprecipitation
eachyearinmm 6398 6072 6008 5247 5290 5658 6008 5243 6602
Max.dailyprecipitation 133 152 117 135 123 224 160 150 157
inmm. (25.Sept.)(3.Sept.) (31.Oct.)(13.Nov.)(29.Oct.)(18.May) (25.Oct.) (15.Oct.)(24.May)
No.ofdayswithoutrain 63 93 89 86 101 120 73 101 80
No.ofdayswithrain 302 273 276 279 264 246 292 264 285
Tab.3:Meanmonthlyminimum,maximumand much lower than in the adjacent months (July 1999:
averageairtemperatures(in°C)attheTropenstation 470mmweremeasured,Aug.2002:389mm).
LaGamba,1999-2007.
The rainfall on the coast of the Esquinas forest,
Month Mean Mean Mean
measured by Ron and Trude McAllister (Casa Orqui-
monthly monthly monthly
minimum maximum average deas) from 1985 to 1999, and at the Ranger station in
January 23.1 32.6 27.9 the Valle Bonito in the centre of the Esquinas forest
February 23.3 33.0 28.4 (measured by MINAE staff in 2002 and 2003), show
March 24.0 34.1 29.1
similar values (Fig. 2 and 3) to those recorded at the
April 24.2 34.0 29.1
Tropenstation.
May 24.2 33.3 28.8
June 23.8 32.8 28.3 Rainy days per year. Between 1999 and 2007, at
July 23.7 32.5 28.1 the Tropenstation, the number of rainy days ranged
August 23.7 32.5 28.1
from246and302daysperyear,thatisfrom2/3to4/5
September 23.7 32.8 28.3
ofthedaysoftheyear.Inthatperiod,theaveragenum-
October 23.6 31.8 27.7
ber of rainy days was 276 per year (3/4, In 2000, over
November 23.5 31.3 27.4
60% of the annual precipitation fell on just 67 days.
December 23.3 31.2 27.3
There was no rain on 93 days (Tab. 2) and less than
highestmonthlyaveragewasinOctober(770mm)and 10mmofrainwasrecordedon104days.
September(778mm).InMay2004,224mm(thatisc.
Effects of drought. During the drier period (Janu-
4% of the annual precipitation) of precipitation were
ary-March),sometreesmaydroptheirleavescomplete-
measuredinaday.ThedriestmonthswereJanuary(235
lyandaconsiderablequantityofleaflitteraccumulates
mm),February(185mm)andMarch(254mm).Varia-
ontheforestfloor.Someofthesmallerstreamsonsteep
tion was highest in February, with precipitation values
terraindryup,butotherspersistandformsmallpockets
rangingfrom77mm(2000)to364mm(2005).Howev-
er, the period between January and March cannot be ofwater.FromDecember1997toApril1998,“ElNiño”
qualifiedasadryseason(nowaterdeficit)andnorisit hadagreateffectontheregionandlittlerainfelldur-
comparablewithdryseasonsinotherareasofCostaRi- ingthisperiod.Manyepiphytesdied,butothersrecov-
ca.Inthe“veranillo”,themonthlyprecipitationisnot eredwithinafewmonths.
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Temperature
BecauseCostaRicaislocatedintheequatorialzone,
theaveragetemperatureofthewarmestmonthdoesnot
exceedtheaveragetemperatureofthecoolestmonthby
morethan2°C.TemperaturemeasurementsatTropen-
station La Gamba have been made sporadically since
December 1993 and regularly since January 1999 until
2007 (Tab. 2). The average yearly temperature was
28.2°C.
Themonthswiththehighestaveragetemperatures
werefoundtobeAprilandMay,with29.1°C.Theab-
solute maximum temperature measured was 39°C (De-
cember2001).ThecoolestmonthwasDecember,with
anaveragetemperatureof27.3°C(Tab.3).Anabsolute
minimum (night) temperature of 20°C was reached in
August1998.
Diurnal temperature variation. The drier season
usually shows a greater amplitude of diurnal tempera-
Fig.1:Climatediagram,TropenstationLaGamba
tures (based on monthly averages) than the rainy sea-
(70mabovesealevel).
son.Awiderange,between10°Cand13°C,wasrecord-
edduringthemonthsJanuary,FebruaryandMarchand
sometimesalsoinAprilandMay.Thehighestvariation Casa Orquideas (sea level) 5742
[15]
during a day (up to 15°C) occurred in September and
December. The least diurnal variation was around 2°C
andoccurredduringlongrainyperiodsinOctoberand
November. At that time there were clouds throughout
thedayandnight.
The seasonal variationinthemeanmonthlyaver-
ageatthefieldstationwasabout2°C,andthusthedi-
urnal temperature variation was greater than the sea-
sonaltemperaturevariation.
Humidity
Fig.2:Precipitationdiagram,CasaOrquideas(sea
Relative humidity is equally high throughout the level).
year(averaging88.3%atthestation,minimumc.80%).
It is considerably higher within the forest (97.7%)
(ASHAN1996).Mistformsdailyatdawnandsometimes Valle Bonito - Ranger station (120 m) 5829
[1,3]
at dusk and after heavier rainfalls. Under misty condi-
tions,theairtemperatureislower.
Wind and storms
Generally, winds and storms are of low importance
in the region. They do occur, but rarely with the force
of a tornado (COEN 1983, BOZA & MENDOZA 1981).
Howeverstormsmayplayadestructiverôleonthehigh
peaks (e.g., Nicuesa). In May 1997, an exceptionally
strongstormseverelyaffectedLaGambaanditsvicini-
ty.Intheforest,mainlyonsteepridges,manylargetrees
Fig.3:Precipitationdiagram,RangerStationinthe
werefelledandlargegapswerecreated. ValleBonito(140mabovesealevel).
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Conclusions
TheclimaticsituationintheEsquinasrainforestcan
be well characterised: while the temperaturesare fairly
eventhroughouttheyear,precipitationfollowsaclear-
lyseasonalpattern.Nonetheless,themeteorologicalda-
ta gathered at the Tropenstation from 1999 to 2007,
show that there is considerable variation from year to
yearandthatElNiñoyearsproducespecialeffectsthat
could even threaten the survival of particular plant
species(especiallyepiphyticspecies).
References
ASCHANG.(1996):MikroklimavonSekundär-undPrimärregen-
wälderderpazifischenTieflandregionCostaRicas.Ergeb-
nisseeinerMeßkampagnevomMärz/April1995.—Düssel-
dorf:unpubl.ThesisonUniv.Heinrich-Heine.
BOZAM.A.&R.MENDOZA(1981):CostaRicanationalparks.—
Madrid:Incafo.
COEN E. (1983): Climate. — In: JANZEN D.H. (ed.), Costa Rican
naturalhistory.Chicago:Univ.ofChicagoPress:35-46.
WEISSENHOFERA.&W.HUBER(2001):BasicGeographicalandCli-
maticFeaturesoftheGolfoDulceRegion.—Stapfia78:
11-14.
Addressofauthors:
AntonWEISSENHOFER
WernerHUBER
DepartmentofPalynologyandStructuralBotany
FacultyCentreofBotany
UniversityVienna
Rennweg14
A-1030Vienna,Austria
E-mail:[email protected]
[email protected]
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