BACKGROUND: Meteorological trends can have profound impacts on a developing nation. It is posited that developing Caribbean nations in particular are uniquely and increasingly vulnerable, damage to infrastructure, food insecurity, and increased disease risk among the various potential climate change effects. However, actual features and impacts of changing weather patterns in the Eastern Caribbean (EC) region are less well known as are means of adaptation. While aggregate statistics such as mean annual temperature or rainfall suggest relative stability in climate, intra-annual trends have not been fully explored and impact management measures not evaluated for efficacy.
The overall changes of interest are inclusive of but not limited to departures from seasonality (i..dry vs. wet) as well as temperature and rainfall patterns. Related and equally warranted is the scientific investigation of extreme weather events - which would be made possible through remote sensing - i.e. tropical storms, floods or “extreme heat” or droughts including the recent regional 6-month dry spell of 2015 which is the first event of this nature experienced in half a century for some countries, in the midst of the EC wet season during the earth’s warmest year on record.