The Coastal Flood Regime around Cuba, the Thermohaline Structure Influence and Its Climate Tendencies

Abstract

An analysis of the coastal flood behavior on Cuban shore area, the influence of the thermohaline structure and its trends is presented, using data archive information from the Cuban Institute of Meteorology, the Institute of Physical Planning and other sources. Weather events that have generated these floods (hurricanes, cold front systems, southern winds and extratropical system combinations) are described, taking into account the influence of ENSO event and thermohaline structure changes at the end of the XX Century. The coastal flooding behavior shows an increase in frequency and intensity in the last 40 years, as a consequence of severe event intensity and frequency growth, in coincidence with higher sea surface temperature, mixed layer depth and salinity on the Cuban surrounding waters. Most of the maximum values of thermohaline parameters were located around the Cuban Western Region, in coincidence with the most favorable area for tropical cyclone development. ENSO acts as an important modulator of the coastal flood occurrence over the Cuban territory. When it is active, its behavior influences on the frequency and intensity increase of winter floods, but inhibits the hurricane activity over the Cuban coastal zone. Hence, in this case, the coastal flood occurrence by hurricanes decreases and the other way around.