Monday, March 6, 2017

Geographical Setting, Average Monthly Weather, and Bowen Ratio of Honolulu, Hawaii

Weather Station Location and Geographical Setting
The weather station I chose is the Honolulu International Airport station located in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean just west of the United States and south of the Tropic of Cancer. Therefore, Hawaii is located in the tropics with a maritime climate (NOAA, 2016). As well, since Hawaii is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the equator it receives northeast trade winds. In terms of Honolulu, it is located on the southeast coast of the third largest Hawaiian Island called Oahu (City-Data, n.d.). 

Here is a broad map that shows the location of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. As well, in this image it shows that Hawaii is right under the Tropic of Cancer.
Source: http://www.worldatlas.com/na/us/hi/where-is-honolulu.html


The red outline depicts the area and location of Honolulu in Oahu. 
Source: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Honolulu,+HI/

The red circle on the map indicates where the Honolulu International Airport weather station is located in Honolulu.
Source:  https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/findstation

Aside from the Pacific Ocean being a large geographical aspect of Honolulu, there are other beautiful and historical geographical aspects. One other large geographical aspect in Honolulu is the Ko'olau Mountain, which dominates the east side of Oahu (Woods, n.d.). In particular, Honolulu is located on the leeward side of the mountain, which causes it to receive warm air. There are also two craters located in Honolulu which is the Punchbowl Crater and the Diamond Head crater that both formed after a volcanic eruption (Woods, n.d.).

The red navigation point on the map depicts the mid-point of the Ko'olau Mountain. As you can see, the Ko'olau Mountain dominates the entire east side of Oahu, and Honolulu is located near the southeast end of the mountain.
Source: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ko%CA%BBolau+Range/

The red navigation point shows where the Punchbowl Crater is located. The Diamond Head is the green circle located in the lower right-hand corner of the map.
Source: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Punchbowl+Crater/

Average Monthly Temperatures
Honolulu contains warm temperatures all year round (NOAA, 2016) because its located in the tropics and receives northeast trade winds. The average monthly high's from 1960-2016 ranges from 80.0 ˚F to 88.6 ˚F, with the highest temperature occurring in July and the lowest in December. On the other hand, the average monthly lows ranges from 66.0 ˚F to 74.8 ˚F with the highest temperature occurring in August and the lowest in January. Honolulu is known to have only 2 seasons with very little temperature differences, which is summer (May to October) and winter (October to April) (NOAA, 2016). In general, Honolulu experiences higher temperatures during the summer and lower temperatures during the winter as depicted in the graph below.

Average monthly temperature for Honolulu during 1960-2016.
Data Source: Lawrimore, Jay (2016). Global Summary of the Month, Version 1.0. [Honolulu International Airport, HI US].NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. DOI:10.7289/V5QV3JJ5 [February 27, 2017].

Graphical representation of the average monthly temperatures.
Data Source: Lawrimore, Jay (2016). Global Summary of the Month, Version 1.0. [Honolulu International Airport, HI US].NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. DOI:10.7289/V5QV3JJ5 [February 27, 2017]. 

Average Monthly Precipitation
Honolulu generally receives very little precipitation all year round. The average monthly precipitation during 1960-2016 ranges from 0.4 to 3.1 inches. The highest average monthly precipitation is in the month of December, and the lowest is in the month June. When the average monthly precipitation and the overall average monthly temperatures are graphed together, they have an inverse relationship. In other words, the hot summer months receives less moisture compared to the warm winter months. 

Average annual precipitation of Honolulu from 1960-2016.
Data Source: Lawrimore, Jay (2016). Global Summary of the Month, Version 1.0. [Honolulu International Airport, HI US].NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. DOI:10.7289/V5QV3JJ5 [February 27, 2017].

Graphical representation of the average monthly precipitation from 1960-2016.
Data Source: Lawrimore, Jay (2016). Global Summary of the Month, Version 1.0. [Honolulu International Airport, HI US].NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. DOI:10.7289/V5QV3JJ5 [February 27, 2017]. 

This graph shows the relationship between the overall average monthly temperatures and average monthly precipitations from 1960-2016. 
Data Source: Lawrimore, Jay (2016). Global Summary of the Month, Version 1.0. [Honolulu International Airport, HI US].NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. DOI:10.7289/V5QV3JJ5 [February 27, 2017].

Bowen Ratio Guestimate
The Bowen Ratio (BR) tends to be higher in dry regions compared to moist regions. In the case of the Honolulu, it’s a relatively moist/humid region due to the Pacific Ocean supplying moisture into the air (NOAA, 2016). In 2014 the monthly relative humidity ranged from 0.6816-0.7188 which is moderately high (Giambelluca, 2014). As well in 2014, the latent heat flux in Honolulu ranged from 6.736 W/m² - 8.358 W/m². In general, Honolulu's latent heat exchange is likely to be higher than the sensible heat exchange due to its humidity. Since the latent heat will be higher than the sensible heat, the BR for Honolulu will be less than 1 and even perhaps lower than 0.50. 

The graph on the left shows the monthly relative humidity of Honolulu International Airport in 2014. The image on the right shows the annual relative humidity of the Oahu as a whole in 2014. 
Source: http://climate.geography.hawaii.edu/interactivemap.html

The graph shows the monthly latent heat flux of Honolulu International Airport in 2014. The map on the right shows the annual latent heat flux of Oahu as a whole in 2014.
Source: http://climate.geography.hawaii.edu/interactivemap.html 

 Sources:
  • City-Data. (2017). Honolulu: Geography and Climate. Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-West/Honolulu-Geography-and-Climate.html
  • Giambelluca, T.W., X. Shuai, M.L. Barnes, R.J. Alliss, R.J. Longman, T. Miura, Q. Chen, A.G. Frazier, R.G. Mudd, L. Cuo, and A.D. Businger. (2014). Evapotranspiration of Hawai‘i. Final report submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—Honolulu District, and the Commission on Water Resource Management, State of Hawai‘i.
  • Lawrimore, Jay (2016). Global Summary of the Month, Version 1.0. [Honolulu International Airport, HI US].NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. DOI:10.7289/V5QV3JJ5 [February 27, 2017].
  • [NOAA] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration. (2016). Climate of Hawai'i. Retrieved from http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/climate_summary.php
  • Woods, A. (n.d.). Landforms in Honolulu. Retrieved from  http://traveltips.usatoday.com/landforms-honolulu-105259.html


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