scholarly journals Evaluation of Diverse-based Precipitation Data Over the Amazon Region

Author(s):  
Camila Sapucci ◽  
Victor C. Mayta ◽  
Pedro Silva Dias

Abstract The skill of the diverse-based precipitation products is investigated in comparison with HYBAM rain-gauge observations. The performance of three remote sensing-based datasets (the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station, CHIRPS, the Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation, MSWEP, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, TRMM) is evaluated considering different timescales for the Amazon Basin, an area with widely heterogeneous precipitation. The analysis considered seasonal, intraseasonal and diurnal timescales through the computation of the cluster analysis, the seasonality index, the Kling-Gupta Efficiency metric, spectral analysis and composing technique. CHIRPS has the lowest performance to represent the rainfall in the northwest portion of the basin, where it underestimated the mean precipitation compared to the other bases. In this region, the other remote sensing-based (TRMM and MSWEP databases) compared to HYBAM also showed considerable variability and misrepresentation of the intraseasonal rainfall. In general, all databases perform better in the north and eastern portions of the basin compared to HYBAM. The comparison of the diurnal rainfall cycle between remote sensing-based data and the field campaigns of TRMM-LBA and GoAmazon, and the Huayao station in the Andes was also evaluated. At the diurnal timescale, MSWEP predates the time of the rainfall peak, but represents the magnitude of the precipitation well compared with TRMM. This study is necessary to warn about the importance of a more complete and objective assessment of the data before considering it for applications in different precipitation studies, mainly in regions with high rainfall heterogeneity like the Amazon Basin.

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (14) ◽  
pp. 3761-3791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Romatschke ◽  
Robert A. Houze

Abstract Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP–NCAR) reanalysis data are used to indicate mechanisms responsible for extreme summer convection over South America. The three-dimensional reflectivity field is analyzed to define three types of extreme echo, deep convective cores, wide convective cores, and broad stratiform regions. The location and timing of these echoes are sensitive to midlatitude synoptic disturbances crossing the Andes. At the leading edges of these disturbances the nocturnal South American low-level jet (SALLJ) transports moisture along the eastern edge of the Andes from the tropical to the subtropical part of the continent. Where the SALLJ rises over lower but steep mountains on the east side of the southern central Andes, deep and wide convective cores are triggered in the evening. When the SALLJ withdraws to the north as the disturbance passes, nocturnal triggering occurs in the northeastern foothills of the central Andes. Extreme convection over the Amazon basin takes the form of broad stratiform regions that evolve from systems with wide convective cores moving into the center of the region from both the southwest and northeast. The systems from the northeast form at the northeast coast and are likely squall lines. Along the coast of the Brazilian Highlands, diurnal/topographic forcing leads to daytime maxima of deep convective cores followed a few hours later by wide convective cores. Wide convective cores and broad stratiform regions form in the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ) with a diurnal cycle related to continental heating.


1963 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund E. Hegen

From the Sierra Macarena in the north to the Sierra Divisor east of the Río Ucayali, the eastern ranges of the Andes form an amphitheater along the western border of the Upper Amazon Basin. This Andean arc was for centuries a combined physical and cultural boundary. The noman's land of the Ceja and the hostility of the Montaña with its rough relief, short lateral valleys, turbulent rivers, and with the “conservatism of the forest” represented a rigid and formidable physical barrier.The eastern region of the Inca Empire, Anti-Suyo, certainly never reached far beyond the forest line along the eastern ranges. The deepest penetration into the Selva took place probably under Inca Túpac Yupanqui, during the wars against the Shiris, who settled around “Chachapuyas and Muyupampas.”


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-141
Author(s):  
Günther Schlee

Omaha kinship terminologies are distributed globally to the north and south of the belt of ancient “high cultures” which stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to East and Southeast Asia in the Old World and includes parts of Mesoamerica and the Andes in the New World. This article offers an explanation for this curious distribution of Omaha terminologies. In so doing, it reviews examples of Omaha terminologies in Central Asia and on the Horn of Africa, noting their defining characteristics and those other aspects of social organization with which they are associated. In conclusion, it is suggested that a continuum of lineage-based systems, including systems with Omaha terminologies, was split into two areas of concentration, one to the north and the other to the south, as ancient “high cultures,” based on intensive agricultural production, arose among them, reverting, in the process, to terminological systems with a cognatic bias like those of the Eskimo type that are associated with urbanization and statehood.


2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 1335-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth P. Bowman ◽  
Cameron R. Homeyer ◽  
Dalon G. Stone

Abstract A number of Earth remote sensing satellites are currently carrying passive microwave radiometers. A variety of different retrieval algorithms are used to estimate surface rain rates over the ocean from the microwave radiances observed by the radiometers. This study compares several different satellite algorithms with each other and with independent data from rain gauges on ocean buoys. The rain gauge data are from buoys operated by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Potential errors and biases in the gauge data are evaluated. Satellite data are from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager and from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager instruments on the operational Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F13, F14, and F15 satellites. These data have been processed into rain-rate estimates by the NASA Precipitation Measurement Mission and by Remote Sensing Systems, Inc. Biases between the different datasets are estimated by computing differences between long-term time averages. Most of the satellite datasets agree with each other, and with the gauge data, to within 10% or less. The biases tend to be proportional to the mean rain rate, but the geographical patterns of bias vary depending on the choice of data source and algorithm. Some datasets, however, show biases as large as about 25%, so care should be taken when using these data for climatological studies.


2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (12) ◽  
pp. 1640-1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry C. Evans

This paper reviews the significant advances by the diseases themselves, as well as by the scientists, in the intervening period since the disease trilogy was first delimited in 1989. The impact of these diseases, black pod, witches' broom, and frosty pod rot, has increased dramatically. In addition, there have been radical changes in the taxonomic profiles of these pathogens, which have been based on both traditional (morphological, cytological) and modern (molecular) approaches. Black pod is caused by a complex of Phytophthora species, in which P. palmivora still is the most important worldwide. However, recent invasion of the principal cacao-growing countries of West Africa by the more virulent P. megakarya has been cause for concern. The latter evolved in the ancient forests straddling the Cameroon-Nigerian border as a primary coloniser of fallen fruit. Conversely, frosty pod rot, caused by Moniliophthora roreri, and witches' broom, caused by M. (Crinipellis) perniciosa, both neotropical diseases, are hemibiotrophic, coevolved pathogens. Respectively, M. roreri arose on Theobroma gileri in submontane forests on the north-western slopes of the Andes, whereas M. perniciosa developed as a complex of pathotypes with a considerably wider geographic and host range within South America; the cacao pathotype evolved on that host in the Amazon basin. The inter-relationships of these vicariant species and their recent spread are discussed, together with control strategies.


1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Stephens

An analysis of cotton remains from Huaca Prieta on the north Peruvian coast, dating from circa 2500 B.C. to circa 750 B.C., indicates that they were probably primitive forms of G. barbadense L. and similar in most features to those previously examined from sites in the Ancon area of the central coast (Stephens and Moseley 1974). As in the Ancon materials, there is a tendency for seed size, boll size and fiber width to increase from the earlier to later levels. Most of the Ancon materials belonged to the Preceramic Period, while at Huaca Prieta both Preceramic and Initial Periods are represented. Only fuzzy seeds were found among the Ancon materials and among the Preceramic materials recovered from Huaca Prieta. Tufted seeds first appear during the Initial Period at Huaca Prieta; it is the prevailing type among present-day cultivars, and may have been favored under human selection because their fibers are much more readily removed from the seeds by hand. It is believed that fuzzy seeds represent the more primitive condition; it is the prevailing type among present-day wild forms of G. barbadense. It remains a question whether the tufted seeds at Huaca Prieta originated as mutants in the locally cultivated fuzzy seeded types, or whether they were new forms, introduced along with pottery and other crop plants from elsewhere. None of the cotton materials so far examined from Peruvian coastal sites show affinities with cottons still extant in the Amazon Basin, and no wild, or apparently wild, forms of G. barbadense have yet been found east of the Andes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 455-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ya. Doroshina ◽  
I. A. Nikolajev

Sphagnum mires on the Greater Caucasus are rare, characterized by the presence of relict plant communities of glacial age and are in a stage of degradation. The study of Sphagnum of Chefandzar and Masota mires is carried out for the first time. Seven species of Sphagnum are recorded. Their distribution and frequency within the North Caucasus are analyzed. Sphagnum contortum, S. platyphyllum, S. russowii, S. squarrosum are recorded for the first time for the study area and for the flora of North Ossetia. The other mosses found in the study area are listed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Gitea ◽  
Simona Vicas ◽  
Manuel Alexandru Gitea ◽  
Sebastian Nemeth ◽  
Delia Mirela Tit ◽  
...  

Our study compares the content in polyphenolic compounds and hypericin, in four species of Hypericum - H. perforatum L., H. maculatum Cr., H. hirsutum L., H. tetrapterum Fr. (syn. Hypericumacutum Mnch.) harvested from spontaneous flora in the north-western area of Transylvania, Romania. These species represent an important source of such compounds with different biological actions. After making the extracts, they were subjected to HPLC-SM analysis. The presence of rutoside in the largest amount (462.82 mg %) in the H. perforatum extract was observed, this containing most of the flavonoid heterosides. For the species H. maculatum, the presence in a much higher amount of the hyperoside (976.36 mg %) is characteristic compared to the other species. Quercetol is the best represented of the flavonoid aglycons, its concentration being the highest in H. hirsutum (659.66 mg %). The hypericin content ranges from 0.2171 g % in the H. tetrapterum extract, to 0.0314 g % in the methanol extract of H. maculatum.The highest antioxidant properties measured by FRAP method were recorded in the case of H. perforatum and H. maculatum.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Makoto Inoue ◽  
Atsushi Ugajin ◽  
Osamu Kiguchi ◽  
Yousuke Yamashita ◽  
Masashi Komine ◽  
...  

In this study, we investigated the effects of the Tibetan High near the tropopause and the North Pacific High in the troposphere on occurrences of hot or cool summers in Japan. We first classified Japan into six regions and identified hot and cool summer years in these regions from a 38-year sample (1980–2017) based on the monthly air temperature. To investigate the features of circulation fields over Asia during hot and cool summers in Japan, we calculated the composite differences (hot summer years minus cool summer years) of several variables such as geopotential height, which indicated significant high-pressure anomalies in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. These results suggest that both the North Pacific and the Tibetan Highs tend to extend to Japan during hot summer years, while cool summers seem to be associated with the weakening of these highs. We found that extension of the Tibetan High to the Japanese mainland can lead to hot summers in Northern, Eastern, and Western Japan. On the other hand, hot summers in the Southwestern Islands may be due to extension of the Tibetan High to the south. Similarly, the latitudinal direction of extension of the North Pacific High is profoundly connected with the summer climate in respective regions.


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