Hydroclimatic and ecohydrological resistance/resilience conditions across tropical biomes of Costa Rica

Abstract

Water resources management in the tropics is challenged by climate variability and unregulated land use change and their impacts on the complex interactions between vegetation, soil, and atmosphere. This study focuses on the analysis of hydroclimatic and ecohydrological conditions across 6 major biomes in Costa Rica. Using the Budyko and the Tomer–Schilling frameworks, 31 reanalysis data points located across the Caribbean and Pacific domains were classified according to their ecohydrological resistance and resilience between 1989 and 2005. Observed data were used to evaluate the reanalysis products. Resistance was defined as the standard deviation in the water excess (Q/P), whereas resilience was defined as the standard deviation of the energy (AET/PET) to the water excess. A strong orographic separation was obtained between the water‐limited Pacific slope and the energy‐limited Caribbean slope. The Caribbean slope is characterized by low resistance and high resilience to changes in the hydroclimatic conditions, with small relative changes in water excess (−18% to 2.0%), whereas the Northern Pacific slope has high resistance and low resilience and exhibited strong changes in water excess (−34% to 0%). Some regions of the Northern Pacific region covered by lower and premontane forests have recently suffered significant increments in the dryness index (PET/P). This study demonstrates the need for national–regional strategies to effectively optimize water use efficiency and water storage and to include a climate vulnerability component in future water management plans.

GPS Precipitable Water Vapor Estimations over Costa Rica: A Comparison against Atmospheric Sounding and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS)

“…These correlation values were similar to those reported over different regions of the Iberian Peninsula, including island environments like Mallorca and several coastal sites [9]. Such relationships also allowed a further adjustment of the data to fit the observations by adopting a spatial bias (error) correction method like the one applied to precipitation data [21,42,43]. As mentioned above, due to the location of Costa Rica on the narrow land-bridge of Central America, the MODIS near-infrared water vapor retrieval algorithm could be greatly affected and the derived column water vapor values over coastal or water areas may vary significantly due to the lower signal-to-noise ratios of the measured spectra [13].…”

Water Use Dynamics in Double Cropping of Rainfed Upland Rice and Irrigated Melons Produced Under Drought‐Prone Tropical Conditions

“…The region is exposed annually to a marked dry season (December–April), during which water supply is highly contested among the different productive sectors (Kuzdas et al, ), followed by a wet season with high interannual rainfall variability (Steyn et al, ). This typical dry season is frequently intensified by several climatic mechanisms, such as El Niño (Esquivel‐Hernández et al, ; Steyn et al, ), which, as observed during the recent El Niño 2014–2016 event, can result in regional drought and water‐related conflicts (Kuzdas & Wiek, ; Vignola et al, ). Moreover, current climate change projections predict a reduction in precipitation and intensification of drought in the region (Hidalgo et al, ).…”

Preface to stable isotopes in hydrological studies in the tropics: Ecohydrological perspectives in a changing climate

“…However, as the tropical belt is mostly covered with oceans, precipitation is not easy to monitor. Tropical ecohydrological conditions are usually under the influence of complex land–ocean–atmosphere interactions (Esquivel‐Hernández, Sánchez‐Murillo, Birkel, Good, & Boll, ; Wilcox & Asbjornsen, ) that produce a dynamic cycling of mass and energy composed of water vapour mixing ratio distributions, cloud formation mechanisms, precipitation and convergence, ecohydrological connectivity and services, groundwater recharge processes in complex aquifers, runoff generation, rapid land use changes, and vegetation dynamics.…”

“…However, as the tropical belt is mostly covered with oceans, precipitation is not easy to monitor. Tropical ecohydrological conditions are usually under the influence of complex land-oceanatmosphere interactions (Esquivel-Hernández, Sánchez-Murillo, Birkel, Good, & Boll, 2017;Wilcox & Asbjornsen, 2018) Brooks, Elliot, & Boll, 2015) to tracer-aided modelling (Tunaley, Tetzlaff, Birkel, & Soulsby, 2017). Despite the recent advances in understanding stable isotope dynamics in hydrological studies, ecological assessments, climate variability analysis, and reconstructing paleoclimate conditions, a consensus exists regarding the urgent need for long-term and better spatial coverage of monitoring efforts.…”