Central American Mid-Summer Drought & Rainfall Extremes

Last updated on Jun 3, 2021

This project focuses on analyzing trends and changes in growing season rainfall patterns and extreme events across the drought-prone Dry Corridor region of Central America. We finnd that the MSD has increased in length and is interspersed with more variable episodes of rainfall across much of the region, although not yet significantly in most places. These regional trends are consistent with anecdotal evidence scattered throughout the literature and from our research in Guatemala, but localized analyses expose the challenges in capturing the complex spatial variability in Central American rainfall. This work has directly inspired and laid the groundwork for my PhD research.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Talia Anderson, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Diego Pons, Matthew Taylor (2019). Multiscale trends and precipitation extremes in the Central American Midsummer Drought. Environmental Research Letters, 14(12).

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Talia Anderson

Graduate Student in Geography

I am a PhD candidate in the School of Geography, Development and Environment and in the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona. My research focuses on climate variability and change in mountain landscapes across different spatial and temporal scales. I use a variety of data types, from tree rings to satellite imagery, to explore climate impacts in both localized areas and large, multi-country regions.