Rainfall Extremes in Critical Periods for Banana Plantations in the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica and their relationship with ENSO

4.OROZCO-MONTOYA, R.A.; PENALBA, O.C

Trieste

Workshop; 3rd Summer School on Theory, Mechanisms and Hierarchical Modeling of Climate Dynamics: Tropical Oceans, ENSO and their Teleconnections; 2022

Rainfall on the Caribbean slope (CS) of Costa Rica occurs throughout the year. This provides ideal conditions to produce banana, the first agricultural export product in 2021. This product is grown all year round and requires a constant and ample supply of water. The National Banana Corporation (CORBANA) of Costa Rica indicates that for the CS, monthly water requirements vary between 200 and 500mm. The influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on banana plantations in the CS directly affects production in the plantations. In general, El Niño events are associated with wetter conditions in the CS and vice versa for La Niña events [1]. Considering that December is one of the months with the highest accumulation of rainfall [2] and excesses can be critical for the crop [3], the aim of this study is to analyse the temporal and spatial variability of banana water requirements, particularly in December, and its relationship with ENSO.