Icelandic Low and Azores High Migrations Impact Florida Current Transport in Winter

Previous work to find an association between variations of annually averaged Florida Current transport and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) have yielded negative results (Meinen et al. 2010). Here we show that Florida current in winter is impacted by displacements in the positions of the Azores High and the Icelandic Low, the constituent pressure centers of the NAO. As a one-dimensional representation of North Atlantic atmospheric circulation, the NAO index does not distinguish displacements of the pressure centers from fluctuations in their intensity. Florida Current transport is significantly correlated with Icelandic Low longitude with a lag of less than one season. We carried out perturbation experiments in the ECCOv4 model to investigate these correlations. These experiments reveal that east-west shifts of the Icelandic Low perturb the wind stress in mid-latitudes adjacent to the American coast, driving downwelling (through longshore winds) and offshore sea level anomalies (through wind stress curl) which travel to the Florida Straits within the same season. Florida Current transport is also correlated with the latitude variations of both the Icelandic Low and the Azores High with a lag of four years. Regression analysis shows that latitude variations of the Icelandic Low and the Azores High are associated with positive wind stress curl anomalies over extended regions in the ocean east of Florida. Rossby wave propagation from this region to the Florida Straits has been suggested as a mechanism for perturbing FCT transport in several previous studies (DiNezio et al. 2009; Czeschel et al. 2012; Frajka-Williams et al. 2013; Domingues et al. 2016, 2019).

Dictatorship, Machismo, and the Cuban Exile Drama in a Tragicomic Mode: Cristina García’s King of Cuba

"Dictatorship, Machismo, and the Cuban Exile Drama in a Tragicomic Mode: Cristina García’s King of Cuba. Three years before the death of Fidel Castro, Cuban American author Cristina García published a fictional account of the Cuban dictator’s death in a darkly funny and sentimental story of intertwined destinies, ironies of fate, machismo, failure and suffering. With El Comandante and a fellow octogenarian émigré as protagonists, García launches into a fictional exploration of Cuban masculinity, machismo, the dictator’s fate, vanity, and failure. Written in what I will argue is a tragicomic mode, balancing the tragic and the comic, the horrendous and the laughable, the pitiful and the ridiculous, the novel reflects different perspectives on sensitive topics for Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits, challenging preconceived ideas and inviting the reader to reflect on the relativity of truth. Keywords: Fidel Castro, dictatorship, machismo, Cuban American community, satire, tragicomic mode "

Morúa’s Continuum

Martín Morúa Delgado’s vision for Cuba’s future and his concern for Afro Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits extends beyond the island to the Americas and is found not simply in his literary production but in his translation practice. Completed in the early 1880s in New York City, just as Morúa’s disenchantment with the politics of Cubans in exile began, his translation of James Redpath’s rendition (1863) of John R. Beard’s The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Negro Patriot of Hayti (1853), reflects Morúa’s belief that the written word had the power to wield a hemispheric influence and could serve to support political transformation in Cuba and by extension the Americas. Toussaint L’Ouverture and this translation were at the center of this vision, for Morúa would reference the Haitian liberator throughout his literary and journalistic career, thereby expounding his belief that a leader modeled on L’Ouverture would bring true political independence to Cuba, inaugurating social change across the hemisphere. It is through this figure and the translation that Morúa conceived an alternative vision for Cuba and for the Americas, one that did not involve the leadership of the US-compromised Americanized Cubans and Latin Americans he so feared. Countering such political thinkers as Wendell Phillips, Rafael Serra, and Juan Gualberto Gómez, his vision placed Afro Latina/os, Afro Latin Americans, and African Americans as the new foundation of a truly politically and socially free hemisphere, one redeemed of its racial prejudices and biases.

The Black Lector forging a radical revolution

This chapter explores the place of black Cubans in Cuba and the US during the 1880s and 1890s, as articulated through the life and works of Martín Morúa Delgado (1856–1910). The first black reader or lector in cigar factories in Havana, New York, and Key West, Morúa labored incessantly for worker’s rights on both sides of the Florida Straits. Reading Morúa’s life and works from the Latino Continuum allows the recovery of the political significance of this figure for literary and historical studies, especially since he interacted directly with José Martí—the founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City. Juxtaposing Morúa’s and Martí’s literary works and translation choices allows us to understand more fully why Morúa was at odds with Martí regarding Cuba’s future and the role that Afro Latina/os had played and would continue to play in Cuba and in the Americas. While the translation of Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona (1884) by Martí and the publication of Martí’s novel, Amistad funesta/Lucía Jerez, speak to US expansionism and its effect on Native American populations, they did not engage Cuba’s most pertinent question at the time—the role of black Cubans in the upcoming wars of independence and in the future Cuban Republic. Morúa, aware of this absence, uses his two novels, Sofía (1891) and La familia Unzúazu (1901), to question the political intentions and social prejudices of Americanized Cubans like José Martí, Tomás Estrada Palma, and Cirilo Villaverde.

A link between the ice nucleation activity and the biogeochemistry of seawater

Emissions of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) from sea spray can impact climate and precipitation by changing cloud formation, precipitation, and albedo. However, the relationship between seawater biogeochemistry and the ice nucleation activity of sea spray aerosols remains unclarified. Here, we demonstrate a link between the biological productivity in seawater and the ice nucleation activity of sea spray aerosol under conditions relevant to cirrus and mixed-phase cloud formation. We show for the first time that aerosol particles generated from both subsurface and microlayer seawater from the highly productive eastern tropical North Pacific Ocean are effective INPs in the deposition and immersion freezing modes. Seawater particles of composition similar to subsurface waters of highly productive regions may therefore be an unrealized source of effective INPs. In contrast, the subsurface water from the less productive Florida Straits produced less effective immersion mode INPs and ineffective depositional mode INPs. These results indicate that the regional biogeochemistry of seawater can strongly affect the ice nucleation activity of sea spray aerosol.

Harmony and Normalization

Harmony and Normalization explores cultural relations between Cuba and the United States during the Presidency of Barack Obama, who restored diplomatic relations with the island. Musical exchanges during this period act as a lens through which to view not only US-Cuban musical relations but also the larger political, economic, and cultural implications of musical dialogue between these two nations. Policy shifts allowed US and Cuban performers to more easily traverse the Florida Straits than in the recent past and encouraged them to act as musical diplomats, and their performances served as a testing ground for political change that anticipated normalized diplomatic relations. While government actors debated these changes, music created connections between individuals on both sides of the Florida Straits. This book describes how musicians were among the first individuals to take advantage of new opportunities for travel, push the boundaries of new regulations, and expose both the possibilities and limitations of licensing musical exchange. Through the analysis of both official and unofficial musical diplomacy efforts, including the Havana Jazz Festival, the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba’s first US tour, the Minnesota Orchestra’s trip to Havana, and the author’s own experiences in Cuba, this ethnography demonstrates how performances reflect aspirations for stronger transnational ties and the common desire to restore the once thriving US-Cuban musical relationship.

New Musicians and Travelers in Cuba

This chapter focuses on why musicians want to visit Cuba, how social networks help them get there, and how the influx of new visitors impacted US-Cuban musical relations. An analysis of the social network that has brought a group of Minnesota musicians to the Cubadisco Festival in 2013 and the Minnesota Orchestra there in 2015 shows how Obama-era policies spawned and strengthened transnational musical networks. Both US and Cuban musicians drew upon some amount of previously-accumulated social capital or other human resources available to them in order to navigate the complicated bureaucracies that govern travel across the Florida Straits. Through participation in musical exchanges they blurred the lines between pilgrimage, tourism, and purposeful travel.

Swordfish Xiphias gladius diet in the Florida Straits

Swordfish Xiphias gladius inhabit the Florida Straits year-round and provide a significant role in the food web as top-level predators. However, little is known about the diet composition and thus ecological role of swordfish in Florida. This study investigated swordfish diet by analyzing stomach contents of 131 swordfish in the Florida Straits from April 2007 to December 2008. Identifiable species included 13 teleost species, 3 cephalopod species, and 1 crustacean species. Cephalopods dominated the swordfish diet by weight (72.4%) and number (69.9%), and ranked highest in importance in the diet by the index of relative importance (IRI; 81.5%). Teleosts occurred the most (99.1%) but represented the second highest importance in diet by weight (25.2%), number (26.3%), and IRI (17.6%). Illex sp. was the prey with the greatest dietary importance, followed by unidentifiable ommastrephid squids. Stomach fullness index values ranged from 0 (empty) to 8.98 (mean = 0.37). A positive significant correlation between swordfish length and prey length was found (r2 = 0.104, P = 0.037), and no significant correlations were found between swordfish weight and prey weight (r2 = –0.075, P = 0.065). This is the first study to report a comprehensive diet of swordfish inhabiting waters in the Florida Straits region and suggests swordfish may be opportunistic feeders, altering their diet when abundance or presence of prey changes.

A Link between the Ice Nucleation Activity of Sea Spray Aerosol and the Biogeochemistry of Seawater

Emissions of ice nucleating particles from sea spray can impact climate and precipitation by changing cloud formation, precipitation, and albedo. However, the relationship between seawater biogeochemistry and the ice nucleation activity of sea spray aerosols remains unclarified. Here, we demonstrate a link between the biological productivity in seawater and the ice nucleation activity of sea spray aerosol under conditions relevant to cirrus and mixed-phase cloud formation. We show for the first time that aerosol generated from both subsurface and microlayer seawater from the highly productive Eastern Tropical North Pacific Ocean are effective ice nucleating particles in the deposition and immersion freezing modes. Jet droplets aerosolized from the subsurface waters of highly productive regions may therefore be an unrealized source of effective INPs. In contrast, the subsurface water from the less productive Florida Straits produced less effective immersion mode INPs and ineffective depositional mode INPs. These results indicate that the regional biogeochemistry of seawater can strongly affect the ice nucleation activity of sea spray aerosol.