Aspect (geography) - Coastal Aspects

Coastal Aspects

These are usually of importance only in the tropics, but there they produce many unexpected climatic effects:

• The dryness of the Dahomey Gap, due to the rain-bearing winds moving parallel to the coast.

• The summer dryness of the Coromandel Coast due to the southerly monsoon flowing parallel to the coast. Its wetness during the northeast monsoon is similarly explained.

• The anomalous late autumn rainy seasons of central Vietnam and the coastal zone of northeastern Brazil for the same reason as above.

• The unusual dryness of Port Moresby compared to the rest of New Guinea is because the National Capital District lies parallel to the trade winds which have a drying effect. In Gulf Province and Lae, which receives their full force, rainfall during southern winter is exceedingly heavy, with rainfall and thunder storms during the rainy season.

• The relative dryness of the Queensland coast has the same cause as with Port Moresby.