The Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) is a sub-region in the isthmus that is relatively drier than the rest of the territory. Traditional delineations of the CADC’s boundaries start at the Pacific coast of southern Mexico, stretching south through Central America’s Pacific coast down to northwestern Costa Rica (Guanacaste province). Using drought indices (Standardized Precipitation Index, Modified Rainfall Anomaly Index, Palmer Drought Severity Index, Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, Palmer Drought Z-Index and the Reconnaissance Drought Index) along with a definition of aridity as the ratio of potential evapotranspiration (representing demand of water from the atmosphere) over precipitation (representing the supply of water), we proposed a CADC delineation that changes for normal, dry and wet years. The identification of areas that change their classification during extremely dry conditions is important because these areas may indicate the location of future expansion of aridity associated with climate change. In the same way, the delineation of the CADC during wet extremes allows the identification of locations that remain part of the CADC even during the wettest years and that may require special attention from the authorities.
AkinremiOOMcGinnSMBarrAG (1996) Evaluation of the Palmer Drought Index on the Canadian Prairies. Journal of Climate9: 897–905.
2.
AlleyWM (1984) The Palmer Drought Severity Index: Limitations and assumptions. Journal of Applied Meteorology23: 1100–1109.
3.
AmadorJA (1998) A climatic feature of the tropical Americas: The trade wind easterly jet. Tópicos Meteorológicos y Oceanográficos5: 91–102.
4.
AmadorJA (2008) The intra-Americas sea low-level jet, overview and future research. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences1146: 153–188.
5.
AmadorJAAlfaroEJLizanoOG, et al. (2006) Atmospheric forcing of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review. Progress in Oceanography69: 101–142.
6.
AmadorJADurán-QuesadaAMRiveraER, et al. (2016a) The easternmost tropical Pacific. Part II: Seasonal and intraseasonal modes of atmospheric variability. Revista Biología Tropical64: 23–57.
7.
AmadorJARiveraERDurán-QuesadaAM, et al. (2016b) The easternmost tropical Pacific. Part I: A climate review. Revista Biología Tropical64: 1–22.
8.
BarberCBDobkinDPHuhdanpaaHT (1996) The Quickhull algorithm for convex hulls. ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software22: 469–483.
BonillaA (2014) Patrones de sequía en Centroamérica. Su impacto en la producción de maíz y frijol y uso del índice normalizado de precipitación para los sistemas de alerta temprana. Global Water Partnership Central America. Available at: http://www.gwp.org/globalassets/global/gwp-cam_files/patrones-de-sequia_fin.pdf(accessed 19 June 2019).
11.
Calvo-SolanoOQuesadaLHidalgoH, et al. (2018) Impactos de la sequía en la, agricultura y la ganadería como un indicador de la seguridad alimentaria en el Corredor Seco Centroamericano: Revisión bibliográfica. Revista Agronomía Mesoamericana29: 695–709.
12.
ChenCFSonNTChenCR, et al. (2016) Drought monitoring in cultivated areas of Central America using multi-temporal MODIS data. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk8: 402–417.
DaiA (2011) Drought under global warming: A review. WIREs Climate Change2: 45–65.
15.
DaiATrenberthKEQianT (2004) A global dataset of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870–2002: Relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. Journal of Hydrometeorology5: 1117–1130.
16.
DelaunayB (1934) Sur la sphère vide. Bulletin of Academy of Sciences of the USSR6: 793–800.
17.
EnfieldDBAlfaroEJ (1999) The dependence of Caribbean rainfall on the interaction of the Tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Journal of Climate12: 2093–2103.
18.
EnfieldDBMestas-NunesAMTrimblePJ (2001) The Atlantic multidecadal oscillation and its relationship to rainfall and river flows in the continental U.S. Geophysical Research Letters28: 2077–2080.
19.
GranadosREPorrasÁJCalvoOD (2017) ¿Cambio climático o variabilidad climática en Coto Brus?: Controversias sobre las perspectivas de los efectos de la tormenta tropical Nicole y el huracán Thomas en el cultivo del café. Revista Española de Estudios Agrosociales Y Pesqueros246: 31–60.
20.
GuttmanNBWallisJRHoskingJRM (1992) Spatial comparability of the Palmer Drought Severity Index. Water Resources Bulletin28: 1111–1119.
21.
HänselSSchucknechtAMatschullatJ (2016) The Modified Rainfall Anomaly Index (mRAI)—is this an alternative to the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in evaluating future extreme precipitation characteristics?Theoretical and Applied Climatology123: 827–844.
22.
HeimRR (2002) A review of twentieth-century drought indices used in the United States. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society83: 1149–1165.
23.
HidalgoHGAlfaroEJAmadorJA, et al. (2019) Precursors of quasi-decadal dry spells in the Central America Dry Corridor. Climate Dynamics. DOI: 10.1007/s00382-019-04638-y.
24.
HidalgoHGAmadorJAAlfaroEJ, et al. (2013) Hydrological climate change projections for Central America. Journal of Hydrology495: 94–112.
25.
HidalgoHGAlfaroEJQuesada-MontanoB (2017) Observed (1970–1999) climate variability in Central America using a high-resolution meteorological dataset with implication to climate change studies. Climatic Change141: 13–28.
26.
HidalgoHGDurán-QuesadaAMAmadorJA, et al. (2015) The Caribbean low level jet, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone and precipitation patterns in the Intra-Americas Sea: A proposed dynamical mechanism. Geografiska Annaler Physical Geography97: 41–59.
27.
Hidalgo-LeónHGHerrero-MadrizCAlfaro-MartínezEJ, et al. (2015) Urban waters in Costa Rica. In: LopardoRAet al. (eds) Urban Water Challenges in the Americas: Perspective from the Academies of Sciences. Cuernavaca: Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences, 204–225.
28.
McKeeTBDoeskenNJKleistJ (1993) The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scale. In: Proceedings of the eighth conference on applied climatology, Anaheim, CA, 17–22 January 1993, pp. 179–184. Boston, MA: American Meteorological Society.
29.
MagañaVAmadorJAMedinaS (1999) The midsummer drought over Mexico and Central America. Journal of Climate12: 1577–1588.
30.
MaldonadoTAlfaroEJFallasB, et al. (2013) Seasonal prediction of extreme precipitation events and frequency of rainy days over Costa Rica, Central America, using canonical correlation analysis. Advances in Geosciences33: 41–52.
31.
MaldonadoTRutgerssonAAlfaroEJ, et al. (2016) Interannual variability of the midsummer drought in central America and the connection with sea surface temperatures. Advances in Geosciences42: 35–50.
32.
MishraAKSinghVP (2010) A review of drought concepts. Journal of Hydrology391: 202–216.
33.
PalmerW (1965) Meteorological drought. Weather Bureau Research Paper 45. US Department of Commerce, 58 pp.
34.
PonceVMPandleyRPErcanS (2000) Characterization of drought across the climate spectrum. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, ASCE5: 222–224.
35.
Quirós-BadillaEHidalgo-LeónHG (2016) Variabilidad y conexiones climáticas de la zona de convergencia intertropical del Pacífico este. Tópicos Meteorológicos y Oceanográficos15: 21–36.
36.
RamírezP (1999) Amenazas hidrometerológicas en Centroamérica (informe consultoría). IRG. Available at: http://slideplayer.es/slide/4258967/(accessed 19 June 2019).
37.
RamírezPBrenesA (2001) Condiciones de sequía observadas en el Istmo Centroamericano en el año 2001. Documento Técnico, Comité Regional de Recursos Hidráulicos (CRRH), Sistema de Integración Centroamericano (SICA), San José, Costa Rica.
38.
RheeJImJCarboneGJ (2010) Monitoring agricultural drought for arid and humid regions using multi-sensor remote sensing data. Remote Sensing of Environment114: 2875–2887.
39.
TaylorMAlfaroE (2005) Climate of Central America and the Caribbean. In: OliverJE (ed) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 183–189.
40.
ThornthwaiteCW (1948) An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geographical Review38: 55–94.
41.
TsakirisGVangelisH (2005) Establishing a drought index incorporating evapotranspiration. European Water9–10: 3–11.
42.
Van der Zee AriasAVan der ZeeJMeyratA, et al. (2012) Estudio de caracterización del Corredor Seco Centroamericano (Países CA-4). Tomo I. Fundación Internacional Acción Contra el Hambre (ACF). Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO). Available at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/tomo_i_corredor_seco.pdf(accessed 19 June 2019).
43.
Van der Zee AriasAVan der ZeeJMeyratA, et al. (2013) Anexos del estudio de caracterización del Corredor Seco Centroamericano (Países CA-4). Tomo II. Fundación Internacional Acción Contra el Hambre (ACF). Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO). Available at: https://issuu.com/crgrcentroamerica/docs/acf_fao_201_tomo_ii-_anexos (accessed 19 June 2019).
44.
VargasG (1997) La Vegetación de América Central: Características, transformaciones y protección. Anuarios de Estudios Centroamericanos23(1–2): 7–34.
45.
Vicente-SerranoSMBegueríaSLorenzo-LacruzJ, et al. (2012) Performance of drought indices for ecological, agricultural, and hydrological applications. Earth Interactions16: 1–27.
46.
WebbRWRosenzweigCELevineER (2000) Global soil texture and derived water holding capacities (Webb et al.). Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center.
47.
WeghorstK (1996) The Reclamation Drought Index: Guidelines and practical applications. Denver, CO: Bureau of Reclamation.
48.
WellsNGoddardSHayesMJ (2004) A self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index. Journal of Climate17: 2335–2351.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (2012) Standardized Precipitation Index. User guide (M. Svoboda, M. Hayes and D. Wood). WMO-No. 1090, Geneva. Available at: http://www.wamis.org/agm/pubs/SPI/WMO_1090_EN.pdf(accessed 19 June 2019).
51.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership (GWP) (2016) Handbook of drought indicators and indices (M. Svoboda and B.A. Fuchs). Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP), Integrated Drought Management Tools and Guidelines Series 2. Geneva. Available at: https://library.wmo.int/pmb_ged/wmo_1173_en.pdf (accessed 19 June 2019).
52.
Zárate-HernándezE (2013) Climatología de masas invernales de aire frío que alcanzan Centroamérica y el Caribe y su relación con algunos índices Árticos. Tópicos Meteorológicos y Oceanográficos12: 35–55.
53.
ZargarASadiqRNaserB, et al. (2011) A review of drought indices. Environmental Review19: 333–349.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
