The Drought of Amazonia in 2005

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Marengo ◽  
Carlos A. Nobre ◽  
Javier Tomasella ◽  
Marcos D. Oyama ◽  
Gilvan Sampaio de Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Amazon River ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Tropical North Atlantic ◽  
Southern Amazonia ◽  
Southwestern Amazonia

Abstract In 2005, large sections of southwestern Amazonia experienced one of the most intense droughts of the last hundred years. The drought severely affected human population along the main channel of the Amazon River and its western and southwestern tributaries, the Solimões (also known as the Amazon River in the other Amazon countries) and the Madeira Rivers, respectively. The river levels fell to historic low levels and navigation along these rivers had to be suspended. The drought did not affect central or eastern Amazonia, a pattern different from the El Niño–related droughts in 1926, 1983, and 1998. The choice of rainfall data used influenced the detection of the drought. While most datasets (station or gridded data) showed negative departures from mean rainfall, one dataset exhibited above-normal rainfall in western Amazonia. The causes of the drought were not related to El Niño but to (i) the anomalously warm tropical North Atlantic, (ii) the reduced intensity in northeast trade wind moisture transport into southern Amazonia during the peak summertime season, and (iii) the weakened upward motion over this section of Amazonia, resulting in reduced convective development and rainfall. The drought conditions were intensified during the dry season into September 2005 when humidity was lower than normal and air temperatures were 3°–5°C warmer than normal. Because of the extended dry season in the region, forest fires affected part of southwestern Amazonia. Rains returned in October 2005 and generated flooding after February 2006.

scholarly journals Global warming in Amazonia: impacts and Mitigation

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1003-1011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Martin Fearnside
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Carbon Accounting ◽  
Amazon Forest ◽  
Temperature Oscillations

Global warming has potentially catastrophic impacts in Amazonia, while at the same time maintenance of the Amazon forest offers one of the most valuable and cost-effective options for mitigating climate change. We know that the El Niño phenomenon, caused by temperature oscillations of surface water in the Pacific, has serious impacts in Amazonia, causing droughts and forest fires (as in 1997-1998). Temperature oscillations in the Atlantic also provoke severe droughts (as in 2005). We also know that Amazonian trees die both from fires and from water stress under hot, dry conditions. In addition, water recycled through the forest provides rainfall that maintains climatic conditions appropriate for tropical forest, especially in the dry season. What we need to know quickly, through intensified research, includes progress in representing El Niño and the Atlantic oscillations in climatic models, representation of biotic feedbacks in models used for decision-making about global warming, and narrowing the range of estimating climate sensitivity to reduce uncertainty about the probability of very severe impacts. Items that need to be negotiated include the definition of "dangerous" climate change, with the corresponding maximum levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Mitigation of global warming must include maintaining the Amazon forest, which has benefits for combating global warming from two separate roles: cutting the flow the emissions of carbon each year from the rapid pace of deforestation, and avoiding emission of the stock of carbon in the remaining forest that can be released by various ways, including climate change itself. Barriers to rewarding forest maintenance include the need for financial rewards for both of these roles. Other needs are for continued reduction of uncertainty regarding emissions and deforestation processes, as well as agreement on the basis of carbon accounting. As one of the countries most subject to impacts of climate change, Brazil must assume the leadership in fighting global warming.

scholarly journals Análise de Componente do Regime Hidrológico da Bacia do Rio Amazonas em Anos de Eventos Climáticos

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 988
Author(s):  
Rogério Souza Aguiar ◽  
Edson José Paulino da Rocha ◽  
José Augusto de Souza Junior ◽  
Joyse Tatiane Souza dos Santos ◽  
Josiane Sarmento Dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
La Niña ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Amazon River ◽  
Low Flows ◽  
La Nina ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Historical Series

As cheias e vazantes do rio Amazonas passaram a ser mais persistentes ao longo dos anos. Este estudo busca analisara influência da variabilidade temporal em escala de bacia hidrográfica sobre o regime do rio Amazonas, a partir das vazões da estação hidrológica da Agência Nacional de Águas – ANA, localizada em Óbidos, no Estado do Pará em uma série histórica de janeiro/1970 a dezembro/2013. Além do tempo, o estudo analisou a intensidade do El Niño e La Niña. Como esperado, o tempo influenciou na vazão média interanual encontrada de 98.723 m3/s para os 44 anos da série analisada. Porém com variabilidade anual do regime do rio Amazonas de intensas proporções temporais, com a vazão variando de ordem de 72.380 m3/s (como em 1997) no regime de vazante até uma ordem de 131.620 m3/s (como em 1974) no regime de cheia. Também foi identificado que fenômenos de El Niño e La Niña modularam eventos climáticos extremos sobre as vazões da Bacia Amazônica em cada ano. A análise interanual mostrou que os anos de baixas vazões, possuíam a característica de persistência de ocorrência em relação às altas vazões. A partir de 1989, houve um aumento em relação à amplitude média da vazão de 87.727 m3/s devido a fortes níveis mínimos registrados. Ao analisar a vazão normalizada percebeu-se que na maioria dos anos de baixa vazão foram também anos do fenômeno El Niño. Constatado esta persistência de baixas vazões, investigaram-se os fatores de armazenamento e disponibilidade do rio Amazonas.   Analysis of Hydrological Regime Componentof the Amazonas River Basin in Years of Climate Events. ABSTRACTThe floods and drains of the Amazon River have become more persistent over the years. This study seeks to analyze the influence of the temporal variability in the basin scale on the Amazon river regime, from the flows of the hydrological station of the National Water Agency - ANA, located in Óbidos, State of Pará, in a historical series from January/1970 to December /2013. Besides time, the study analyzed the intensity of El Niño and La Niña. As expected, time influenced the annual interannual flow rate of 98,723 m3/s for the 44 years of the analyzed series. However, with an annual variability of the Amazon river regime of intense flows, with an increase of 72,380 m3/s (as in 1997) in the effluent regime up to an order of 131,620 m3/s (as in 1974) in the flood regime. It was also identified that El Niño and La Niña phenomena modulated extreme climatic events on the Amazon Basin flows each year. The year-on-year analysis showed that the years of low flows had a persistence of occurrence in relation to high flows. As of 1989, there was an increase in relation to the average flow amplitude of 87,727 m3/s due to the strong minimum levels recorded. Analyzing the normalized flow rate, it was observed that in most of the years of low flow there were also years of the El Niño phenomenon. Considering this persistence of low flows, we investigated the storage and availability factors of the Amazon River.Keywords: Time flows. Ecological Maintenance.Amazonriver. 

Non-linearity in the pathway of El Niño-Southern Oscillation to the tropical North Atlantic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Jake W. Casselman ◽  
Andréa S. Taschetto ◽  
Daniela I.V. Domeisen
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
El Niño Southern Oscillation ◽  
El Nino Southern Oscillation ◽  
Tropical North Atlantic

AbstractEl Niño-Southern Oscillation can influence the Tropical North Atlantic (TNA), leading to anomalous sea surface temperatures (SST) at a lag of several months. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this teleconnection. These mechanisms include both tropical and extratropical pathways, contributing to anomalous trade winds and static stability over the TNA region. The TNA SST response to ENSO has been suggested to be nonlinear. Yet the overall linearity of the ENSO-TNA teleconnection via the two pathways remains unclear. Here we use reanalysis data to confirm that the SST anomaly (SSTA) in the TNA is nonlinear with respect to the strength of the SST forcing in the tropical Pacific, as further increases in El Niño magnitudes cease to create further increases of the TNA SSTA. We further show that the tropical pathway is more linear than the extratropical pathway by sub-dividing the inter-basin connection into extratropical and tropical pathways. This is confirmed by a climate model participating in the CMIP5. The extratropical pathway is modulated by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the location of the SSTA in the Pacific, but this modulation insufficiently explains the nonlinearity in TNA SSTA. As neither extratropical nor tropical pathways can explain the nonlinearity, this suggests that external factors are at play. Further analysis shows that the TNA SSTA is highly influenced by the preconditioning of the tropical Atlantic SST. This preconditioning is found to be associated with the NAO through SST-tripole patterns.

Morphofunctional changes to the phytoplankton community in tropical ecosystems during the El Niño event of 2015–16

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (11) ◽  
pp. 1576
Author(s):  
F. H. P. C. de Oliveira ◽  
A. N. Moura ◽  
Ê. W. Dantas
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Climatic Variables ◽  
Arid Ecosystems ◽  
Filamentous Cyanobacteria ◽  
El Niño Event ◽  
Centric Diatoms ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Canonical Analyses

This study reports the effects of the El Niño event of 2015–16 on abiotic and biotic variables in tropical reservoirs in semi-arid and wet regions. Samples were collected in control years (2014) and during the El Niño event (2015–16). Phytoplankton was identified and its biomass quantified. Physicochemical and climatic variables were evaluated. Canonical analyses were performed to determine the effects of abiotic variables on phytoplankton. In semi-arid ecosystems, there was a decrease in diversity during the El Niño event, as well as an increase in the relative biomass of centric diatoms and a decrease in filamentous cyanobacteria. In wet ecosystems, changes in the community were not observed during the El Niño event. The synergistic contribution between physiochemical and climatic variables was most pronounced during the El Niño event in all ecosystems. Filamentous cyanobacteria were associated with the control year and favoured by higher pH values and sulfate concentrations. Centric diatoms were related to higher air temperatures and lower sulfate concentrations during the El Niño event. El Niño caused morphofunctional modifications to the phytoplankton in a distinct way in semi-arid and wet ecosystems. We show that in semi-arid reservoirs the El Niño event decreased the relative biomass of filamentous cyanobacteria and favoured central diatoms because of changes to sulfate concentrations.

scholarly journals The Correlation of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) with the Rainfall at Rainy and Dry Season Peak in Kintamani-Bangli Region period 1986-2015

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Wayan Mita Restitiasih ◽  
I Ketut Sukarasa ◽  
I Wayan Andi Yuda
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
El Niño ◽  
Southern Oscillation Index ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Correlation Study ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Rainfall Data ◽  
The Relationship

A correlation study of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) on rainfall at the peak of the wet and dry season in the Kintamani-Bangli region has been carried out by taking SOI values and rainfall data for the period 1986-2015. The rainfall data used were recorded at 2 rain posts, namely Kembangsari and Kintamani. The research aimed to determine the relationship of fluctuations in the value of SOI with the intensity of rainfall, so that it can be used as a regional management plan when El Nino occurs. The method used in this study is correlation. The results obtained from the correlation that is the relationship between SOI value and rainfall in February were quite strong in the Kembangsari post with correlation coefficient of 0.409. Whereas for the Kintamani post the correlation obtained was weak with a correlation coefficient of 0.308. Then in August a weak correlation occurred in the Kembangsari post with a correlation coefficient of 0.2398 and was quite strong in the Kintamani post with a correlation coefficient of 0.4662. So that the influence of El Nino in the Kintamani area in February was more dominant in the Kembangsari post and in August at the Kintamani post.

Southeast Asian Forest Fires (1997/1998): El Niño as a Driver of Regional Impacts

2017 ◽  
pp. 191-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Talib Latif ◽  
Murnira Othman ◽  
Ahmad Makmom Abdullah ◽  
Md Firoz Khan ◽  
Fatimah Ahamad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Regional Impacts

Mechanisms for the Interannual Variability in the Tropical Indian Ocean. Part II: Regional Processes

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 2937-2960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohua Huang ◽  
J. Shukla
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Interannual Variability ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Tropical Indian Ocean ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Tropical Ocean ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Sst Anomalies

Abstract To understand the mechanisms of the interannual variability in the tropical Indian Ocean, two long-term simulations are conducted using a coupled ocean–atmosphere GCM—one with active air–sea coupling over the global ocean and the other with regional coupling restricted within the Indian Ocean to the north of 30°S while the climatological monthly sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are prescribed in the uncoupled oceans to drive the atmospheric circulation. The major spatial patterns of the observed upper-ocean heat content and SST anomalies can be reproduced realistically by both simulations, suggesting that they are determined by intrinsic coupled processes within the Indian Ocean. In both simulations, the interannual variability in the Indian Ocean is dominated by a tropical mode and a subtropical mode. The tropical mode is characterized by a coupled feedback among thermocline depth, zonal SST gradient, and wind anomalies over the equatorial and southern tropical Indian Ocean, which is strongest in boreal fall and winter. The tropical mode simulated by the global coupled model reproduces the main observational features, including a seasonal connection to the model El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The ENSO influence, however, is weaker than that in a set of ensemble simulations described in Part I of this study, where the observed SST anomalies for 1950–98 are prescribed outside the Indian Ocean. Combining with the results from Part I of this study, it is concluded that ENSO can modulate the temporal variability of the tropical mode through atmospheric teleconnection. Its influence depends on the ENSO strength and duration. The stronger and more persistent El Niño events in the observations extend the life span of the anomalous events in the tropical Indian Ocean significantly. In the regional coupled simulation, the tropical mode is still active, but its dominant period is shifted away from that of ENSO. In the absence of ENSO forcing, the tropical mode is mainly stimulated by an anomalous atmospheric direct thermal cell forced by the fluctuations of the northwestern Pacific monsoon. The subtropical mode is characterized by an east–west dipole pattern of the SST anomalies in the southern subtropical Indian Ocean, which is strongest in austral fall. The SST anomalies are initially forced by surface heat flux anomalies caused by the anomalous southeast trade wind in the subtropical ocean during austral summer. The trade wind anomalies are in turn associated with extratropical variations from the southern annular mode. A thermodynamic air–sea feedback strengthens these subtropical anomalies quickly in austral fall and extends their remnants into the tropical ocean in austral winter. In the simulations, this subtropical variability is independent of ENSO.

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