%0 Journal Article
%T Documentary-derived chronologies of rainfall variability in Antigua, Lesser Antilles, 1770每1890
%A A. J. Berland
%A S. E. Metcalfe
%A G. H. Endfield
%J Climate of the Past Discussions
%D 2013
%I Copernicus Publications
%R 10.5194/cpd-9-1535-2013
%X This paper presents the first extensive reconstruction of precipitation variability in the Lesser Antilles using historical documentary sources. Over 13 250 items of documentation pertaining to Antigua from the period 1769每1890 were consulted, including missionary, plantation and governmental papers as well as contemporary scholarly publications. Based on the predominant meteorological conditions observed throughout the island, each "rain-year" (December每November) was assigned one of five classifications (very wet, wet, "normal", dry and very dry). Local weather references relating to seven plantations in central-eastern Antigua were grouped according to dry (December每April) and wet seasons (May每November), each of which were also categorised in the aforementioned manner. Results comprise individual island-wide and central-eastern Antiguan chronologies of relative precipitation levels, spanning the rain-years 1769每1770 to 1889每1890 and 1769每1770 to 1853每1854 respectively. The former is compared with available instrumental data for 1870每1890. Significant dry phases are identified in the rain-years 1775每1780, 1788每1791, 1820每1822, 1834每1837, 1844每1845, 1859每1860, 1862每1864, 1870每1874 and 1881每1882, while wet episodes were 1771每1774, 1833每1834, 1837每1838, 1841每1844, 1845每1846 and 1878每1881. Evidence for major wet and dry spells is presented and findings evaluated within wider historical and palaeoclimatic contexts.
%U http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/9/1535/2013/cpd-9-1535-2013.pdf