Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands

Abstract The Galapagos Islands are a global hotspot of environmental change. However, despite their potentially major repercussions, little is known about current and expected changes in regional terrestrial climate variables and sea surface temperatures (SST). Here, by analysing existing meteorolog...

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Autores principales:	Homero A. Paltán, Fátima L. Benitez, Paulina Rosero, Daniel Escobar-Camacho, Francisco Cuesta, Carlos F. Mena
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ae075e2f77a34979aad4c30c6c2843cb
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ae075e2f77a34979aad4c30c6c2843cb2021-12-02T16:14:03ZClimate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands10.1038/s41598-021-93870-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/ae075e2f77a34979aad4c30c6c2843cb2021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93870-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The Galapagos Islands are a global hotspot of environmental change. However, despite their potentially major repercussions, little is known about current and expected changes in regional terrestrial climate variables and sea surface temperatures (SST). Here, by analysing existing meteorological observations and secondary datasets, we find that the Islands have warmed by about 0.6 °C since the early 1980s, while at the same time becoming drier. In fact, the onset of the wet season is currently delayed 20 days. This drying trend may reverse, however, given that future climate projections for the region suggest mean annual precipitation may increase between 20 and 70%. This would also be accompanied by more extreme wet and hot conditions. Further, we find that regional SST has increased by 1.2 °C over the last two decades. These changes will, in turn, translate into deterioration of marine ecosystems and coral, proliferation of invasive species, and damages to human water, food, and infrastructure systems. Future projections, however, may be overestimated due to the poor capacity of climatic models to capture Eastern-Pacific ENSO dynamics. Our findings emphasize the need to design resilient climate adaptation policies that will remain robust in the face of a wide range of uncertain and changing climatic futures.Homero A. PaltánFátima L. BenitezPaulina RoseroDaniel Escobar-CamachoFrancisco CuestaCarlos F. MenaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Homero A. Paltán Fátima L. Benitez Paulina Rosero Daniel Escobar-Camacho Francisco Cuesta Carlos F. Mena Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands
description	Abstract The Galapagos Islands are a global hotspot of environmental change. However, despite their potentially major repercussions, little is known about current and expected changes in regional terrestrial climate variables and sea surface temperatures (SST). Here, by analysing existing meteorological observations and secondary datasets, we find that the Islands have warmed by about 0.6 °C since the early 1980s, while at the same time becoming drier. In fact, the onset of the wet season is currently delayed 20 days. This drying trend may reverse, however, given that future climate projections for the region suggest mean annual precipitation may increase between 20 and 70%. This would also be accompanied by more extreme wet and hot conditions. Further, we find that regional SST has increased by 1.2 °C over the last two decades. These changes will, in turn, translate into deterioration of marine ecosystems and coral, proliferation of invasive species, and damages to human water, food, and infrastructure systems. Future projections, however, may be overestimated due to the poor capacity of climatic models to capture Eastern-Pacific ENSO dynamics. Our findings emphasize the need to design resilient climate adaptation policies that will remain robust in the face of a wide range of uncertain and changing climatic futures.
format	article
author	Homero A. Paltán Fátima L. Benitez Paulina Rosero Daniel Escobar-Camacho Francisco Cuesta Carlos F. Mena
author_facet	Homero A. Paltán Fátima L. Benitez Paulina Rosero Daniel Escobar-Camacho Francisco Cuesta Carlos F. Mena
author_sort	Homero A. Paltán
title	Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands
title_short	Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands
title_full	Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands
title_fullStr	Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands
title_full_unstemmed	Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands
title_sort	climate and sea surface trends in the galapagos islands
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/ae075e2f77a34979aad4c30c6c2843cb
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Climate and sea surface trends in the Galapagos Islands

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