Projected increases in the annual flood pulse of the Western Amazon

This study uses a distributed land surface model to examine the hydrological regime of the upper Amazon river

Abstract

The impact of a changing climate on the Amazon basin is a subject of intensive research because of its rich biodiversity and the significant role of rainforests in carbon cycling. Climate change has also a direct hydrological impact, and increasing efforts have focused on understanding the hydrological dynamics at continental and subregional scales, such as the Western Amazon. New projections from the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 ensemble indicate consistent climatic warming and increasing seasonality of precipitation in the Peruvian Amazon basin. Here we use a distributed land surface model to quantify the potential impact of this change in the climate on the hydrological regime of the upper Amazon river.

Citation

Zulkafli, Z., Buytaert, W., Manz, B., Rosas, C.Veliz, Willems, P., Lavado-Casimiro, W., Guyot, J.L., Santini, W., Projected increases in the annual flood pulse of the Western Amazon, Environmental Research Letters, vol.11, issue1, 2016

Projected increases in the annual flood pulse of the Western Amazon

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2016