Geography of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is an archipelago, composed of four principal islands, located in the the Caribbean the islands are localized between the Caribbean Sea and the north of the Atlantic Ocean, in the east of the Dominican Republic and the west of the Virgin Islands. The principal island of Porto-Rico is smallest and Eastern of the group of the Greater Antilles. The associated islands are Vieques, Culebra, Isla Mona and some islands secondary. Only Vieques and Culebra are inhabited in a permanent way. Puerto Rico is of a surface of 9104 km ² is approximately a 170 km length for a width of 60 km. It is a primarily mountainous island, with broad coastal spaces in north and the south. The principal mountain is called Cordilière power station of Puerto Rico, whose culminating point is the Cerro de Punta to 1338 m of altitude. Another important peak is El Yunque (1065 m), located in the Sierra of Luquillo, and constitutes an American national park. The capital, San Juan is on the northern coast of the island.

Physical geography

Climate

Puerto Rico is an island of the the Caribbean which consequently profits from a constant wet tropical climate throughout the year with an average temperature of 26ºC. The temperature of the southern part of the island is appreciably higher than without north. On the other hand the temperatures of the central mountainous part are up to 10 ºC lower than the coasts because of rise and increased moisture. Strictly speaking seasons ago but overall one can distinguish the wet season (from May to October) which also corresponds to the season of the hurricane S, of the dry season (November at April). One can note that the islands Vieques and especially Culebra are definitely more arid than the principal island of Porto-Rico, and more heats, because of weaker precipitations and of the absence of major relief.

The characteristic of the principal island of Porto-Rico is the abundant office plurality of precipitations due to the exposure of the island to the wet trade winds of the Atlantique northern which involve frequent downpours, sometimes excessively violent, practically daily during the wet season. The variations of precipitation are important from one point to another of the island with for example up to 450 cm of water annual cumulated in the wet tropical forest of El Yunque, for only 100 cm with Ponce, the second city of the island on the southern part.

Finally Porto-Rico is subjected each year of more or less strong tropical storms, being able to become violent one hurricanes as that which devastated the island the August 12th 1956.

Rivers and lakes

Fauna and flora

Administrative geography

The island of Puerto Rico has a total population of: 3 885.877 inhabitants (2003). The island is divided into 78 municipalities forming the the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Geology

References

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