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Global Climatic Issues in the Coastal Wider Caribbean Region*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Frank J. Gable ,
J.H. Gentile  and
D.G. Aubrey
Frank J. Gable
Affiliation:
Geographer, Coastal Research Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
J.H. Gentile
Affiliation:
Biologist, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, Rhode Island, USA
D.G. Aubrey
Affiliation:
Associate Scientist and Director, Coastal Research Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA
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Extract

There is mounting evidence of global climate change. Analysis of near-surface temperatures over land and oceans during the past 130 years shows marked warming during the first half of this century, with relatively steady temperatures thereafter to the mid-1970s and rapid warming occurring during the 1980s. Of further significance is the fact that the warmest decade in the record is that of the 1980s, with some of the most pronounced warming occurring in the lower latitudes which include the wider Caribbean region. In the context of this study, the important consequences of this warming are the potential impacts associated with rising sea-level and the increased frequency, intensity, and seasonality, of tropical storms due to thermal expansion of the oceans, melting of land-based ice-sheets and glaciers, and local geological parameters. Within the wider Caribbean, rates of relative sea-level rise have been recently estimated at around 2.5 mm/yr. Also, meteorological changes are evident with the occurrence of unusually intense storms such as Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Rising sea-level coupled with meteorological changes present the potential for increased coastal erosion, loss of wetlands, disappearance of special habitats such as mangroves, and destruction of coral-reef communities. These potential impacts may have a significant influence on future land-use and development practices that could alter the economic growth and development of the region not least through curtailment of tourism.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , Spring 1990 , pp. 51 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1990

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