# Climate Perspectives in the Intra-Americas Seas
###### Abstract
The WHWP features the seasonal SST gradients, including the seesaw between the eastern tropical Pacific (ETPac) and the Caribbean Sea. The WHWP accounts for variations in trade winds because the coupling between the meridional SST gradient and trade winds operates at the seasonal, inter-annual, and decadal time scales [10]. Trade winds dominate the low-level circulation and play a relevant role in boundary layer processes that modulate mass exchange, energy feedback, moisture transport, cyclone development, convective activity, and rainfall distribution. The main low-level structures in the region are the Caribbean Low-Level Jet (CLL) [11] and Choco Jet [12]. Their role to modulate rainfall patterns has been widely studied [13], as well as their connectivity with large-scale features such as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) [14,15]. Heavy rainfall in the region is a combination of regional and large-scale processes and features, including the so-called Mid-Summer Drought (MSD) [16], ITCZ seasonal activity [14,17], tropical disturbances [18,19], and mesoscale convective activity [20]. Although some countries in the region have developed more integral economic sustainability in the technology and services sectors, the regional economy is largely dependent on agriculture. Agricultural production [21] accounts for a significant part of the national Gross Primary Product (GPP), and the main exportation products include coffee, fresh fruit, and flowers [22,23]. Agriculture is often linked with agritourism as a means of sharing the added value of sustainable production [24,25]. The dependence of regional economics on weather and climate opens up a debate on water resources management. As water resources are highly vulnerable to the effect of hydro-meteorological extremes, changes to water and climate increases the risk of an already distressed sector that has experienced the pressures of trade agreements [26]. Drought has had a significant effect on Central American and Caribbean crops as severe droughs affect approximately half of the production on average during drought [27,28]. Heavy rainfall and associated floods also impact crops, due to their ability to disrupt harvesting, processing, and transportation [29]. Conditions linked to El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events have been associated with an increase in crop diseases such as coffee rust [30]. Hydro-meteorological extremes have a profound impact on regional agriculture, compromising food security, decreasing economic growth, affecting a large number of households that depend on major crops, and increasing societal risk of impoverishment [31]. Electricity generation in parts of the region relies on a steady rainfall annual cycle or the capacity to adapt production to rainfall deficits. The regional electricity matrix is comprised of a combination of different energy sources, including hydroelectric, wind farms, geothermal, thermal, and co-generation with hydroelectric and thermal. Nearly 44-64% of electricity production in Central America is thermal, with the exception of Costa Rica, where thermal production constituted 25% of the energy mix in 2010 [32]. Over the last four decades, Guatem and Panama achieved an increase of hydropowercapacity from 2000 to 4000 GWh and 5000 GWh, respectively. Costa Rica managed to double their hydropower capacity to nearly 7000 GWh [33]. In the Caribbean, the energy matrix is dominated by coal, diesel, and fuel oil [34]. Central America's plans to increase their share of renewable energy production will need to confront the climate constraints posed to hydropower and wind farming, with solar energy under review due to the costs and impact of cloudiness on energy generation efficiency. In Mexico, clean energy contributed 20% of annual production (64,848 GWh) in 2016, with hydropower representing 48% of the clean energy contribution [35]. Variability modes such as ENSO have a global impact on hydropower generation, where El Nino events decrease annual hydropower production in Central American dams [36].