Research Sites
| Panama | |||
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| Republic of Panama with political boundaries, major cities and towns, and topography in pseudo 3D Republic of Panama from NASA satellite |
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| Barro Colorado Island (BCI) | |||
| BCI (9°10'N, 79°51'W) is an island which was isolated from the surrounding mainland in 1914 following the damming of the Chagras river and the formation of Gatun Lake. The island, rising 137m above Lake Gatun, has an area of 1500 ha which are covered by forest which has remained relatively undisturbed for at least 100 years. BCI forms part of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument (BCNM). For more information about STRI facilities on BCI and the BCNM | |||
| The island receives an average of 2623 mm of rain per year. Day-time temperatures reach an average of 32°C, with night-time lows of approximately 23°C. The meteorological year is divided into two parts: a pronounced dry season (approximately from mid-December to the end of April), and a wet season (May to mid-December). On average, only 285 mm of rain falls during the dry season. Relative humidity, soil moisture, air pressure, solar radiation, evapotranspiration, wind speed and direction all show marked wet/dry season differences. On the other hand, temperature varies relatively little throughout the year. | |||
Barro Colorado Nature Monument
Map of BCI showing location of Sonic Anemometer tower stations. |
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| hace falta una foto de una de las torres | |||
| Gamboa | |||
| Map of the town of Gamboa showing the location of the Sonic Anemometer tripod station. |
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BCI Daily Wind Profile The daily wind regime for Central Panama is dominated by strong winds out of the north to north-west during the dry season (from late December to early May), and much weaker winds which range in origin from the north to south westerly (winds from the west are rare). The figure below shows the average daily direction into which the winds were blowing, plus the average velocity (denoted by the length of the arrow). Click here to download the data used to create this figure.
 Click here to go to the ESP physical monitoring web site for other climate data collected on BCI. |
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More Maps
For more maps, visit the ESP site map library.