Changes in the surface and atmospheric water budget due to projected Amazon deforestation: Lessons from a fully coupled model simulation

The Amazon forest has a complex interaction with climate at different spatial and temporal scales. This means that alterations in land use could modify the regional water cycle, including the surface and atmospheric water budget. However, little is known about how these changes occur seasonally and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Wongchuig, Sly, Carlo Espinoza, Jhan, Condom, Thomas, Junquas, Clementine, Sierra, Juan Pablo, Fita Borrell, Lluís, Sörensson, Anna, Polcher, Jan
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/228410
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/228410
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:CHANGES IN WATER BUDGET
COUPLED LAND–ATMOSPHERE MODELING
FUTURE AMAZON DEFORESTATION
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:The Amazon forest has a complex interaction with climate at different spatial and temporal scales. This means that alterations in land use could modify the regional water cycle, including the surface and atmospheric water budget. However, little is known about how these changes occur seasonally and in a spatially distributed manner in the most vulnerable regions, such as the southern Amazon. In this study, the local to regional effects of future Amazon deforestation on the surface and atmospheric water budget components are investigated by twin numerical experiments using the Regional Earth System Model of the ‘Institute Pierre Simone Laplace’ (RegIPSL) for 19 yr (2001–2019). The results show that significant changes in precipitation and actual evapotranspiration in the southern Amazon (south of 5°S) are associated with surrounding areas with a deforested ratio higher than 40%. During the onset of the wet season (September-November) the largest changes in convective processes are manifested by opposite atmospheric dynamic in adjacent regions (dipole), associated with. This dynamic is associated with wind orientation and the different sizes of the straight corridors of continuous deforestation (pathways). The dipole manifests itself as a suppression of convection in the upwind sector, while convection increases in the downwind sector of the deforestation pathway. For medium-sized deforestation pathways (∼350 km) convection changes are related to dynamic processes (decrease in surface roughness). In large-sized pathways (∼500 km) the mechanisms causing convective changes are combined, dynamic and thermal (increase in surface temperature). In deforested regions there is an average increase of terrestrial water storage dynamics and runoff ∼10 times higher than in non-deforested regions. Furthermore, the atmosphere becomes ∼8 times drier in deforested regions than in non-deforested regions. Our findings indicate a new perspective regarding a comprehensive modeling approach to understand potential changes in the surface and atmospheric water cycle in different regions of Amazonia and in different seasons due to future deforestation and thus provide new insights into their spatial and temporal variability at sub-regional scales.