English
 
Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT
 
 
DownloadE-Mail
  Recent extreme drought events in the Amazon rainforest: Assessment of different precipitation and evapotranspiration datasets, and drought indicators

Papastefanou, P., Zang, C., Angelov, Z., Anderson de Castro, A., Jimenez, J., Campos De Rezende, L., Ruscica, R., Sakschewski, B., Sörensson, A., Thonicke, K., Vera, C., Viovy, N., von Randow, C., Rammig, A. (2022): Recent extreme drought events in the Amazon rainforest: Assessment of different precipitation and evapotranspiration datasets, and drought indicators. - Biogeosciences, 19, 16, 3843-3861.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3843-2022

Item is

Files

show Files
hide Files
:
27185oa.pdf (Publisher version), 5MB
Name:
27185oa.pdf
Description:
-
Visibility:
Public
MIME-Type / Checksum:
application/pdf / [MD5]
Technical Metadata:
Copyright Date:
-
Copyright Info:
-

Locators

show

Creators

show
hide
 Creators:
Papastefanou, P.1, Author
Zang, C.S.1, Author
Angelov, Z.1, Author
Anderson de Castro, A.1, Author
Jimenez, J.C.1, Author
Campos De Rezende, L.F.1, Author
Ruscica, R.1, Author
Sakschewski, Boris2, Author              
Sörensson, A.1, Author
Thonicke, Kirsten2, Author              
Vera, C.1, Author
Viovy, N.1, Author
von Randow, C.1, Author
Rammig, A.1, Author
Affiliations:
1External Organizations, ou_persistent22              
2Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, ou_persistent13              

Content

show
hide
Free keywords: -
 Abstract: Over the last decades, the Amazon rainforest has been hit by multiple severe drought events. Here, we assess the severity and spatial extent of the extreme drought years 2005, 2010 and 2015/16 in the Amazon region and their impacts on the regional carbon cycle. As an indicator of drought stress in the Amazon rainforest, we use the widely applied maximum cumulative water deficit (MCWD). Evaluating nine state-of-the-art precipitation datasets for the Amazon region, we find that the spatial extent of the drought in 2005 ranges from 2.2 to 3.0 (mean =2.7) ×106 km2 (37 %–51 % of the Amazon basin, mean =45 %), where MCWD indicates at least moderate drought conditions (relative MCWD anomaly < -0.5). In 2010, the affected area was about 16 % larger, ranging from 3.0 up to 4.4 (mean =3.6) ×106 km2 (51 %–74 %, mean =61 %). In 2016, the mean area affected by drought stress was between 2005 and 2010 (mean = 3.2 x 106 km2; 55 % of the Amazon basin), but the general disagreement between datasets was larger, ranging from 2.4 up to 4.1×106 km2 (40 %–69 %). In addition, we compare differences and similarities among datasets using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) and a dry-season rainfall anomaly index (RAI). We find that scPDSI shows a stronger and RAI a much weaker drought impact in terms of extent and severity for the year 2016 compared to MCWD. We further investigate the impact of varying evapotranspiration on the drought indicators using two state-of-the-art evapotranspiration datasets. Generally, the variability in drought stress is most dependent on the drought indicator (60 %), followed by the choice of the precipitation dataset (20 %) and the evapotranspiration dataset (20 %). Using a fixed, constant evapotranspiration rate instead of variable evapotranspiration can lead to an overestimation of drought stress in the parts of Amazon basin that have a more pronounced dry season (for example in 2010). We highlight that even for well-known drought events the spatial extent and intensity can strongly depend upon the drought indicator and the data sources it is calculated with. Using only one data source and drought indicator has the potential danger of under- or overestimating drought stress in regions with high measurement uncertainty, such as the Amazon basin.

Details

show
hide
Language(s): eng - English
 Dates: 2022-06-232022-08-242022-08-24
 Publication Status: Finally published
 Pages: 19
 Publishing info: -
 Table of Contents: -
 Rev. Type: Peer
 Identifiers: PIKDOMAIN: RD1 - Earth System Analysis
Organisational keyword: RD1 - Earth System Analysis
MDB-ID: pending
Working Group: Ecosystems in Transition
Research topic keyword: Ecosystems
Research topic keyword: Biodiversity
Regional keyword: South America
Model / method: Model Intercomparison
OATYPE: Gold Open Access
DOI: 10.5194/bg-19-3843-2022
 Degree: -

Event

show

Legal Case

show

Project information

show

Source 1

show
hide
Title: Biogeosciences
Source Genre: Journal, SCI, Scopus, p3, oa
 Creator(s):
Affiliations:
Publ. Info: -
Pages: - Volume / Issue: 19 (16) Sequence Number: - Start / End Page: 3843 - 3861 Identifier: CoNE: https://publications.pik-potsdam.de/cone/journals/resource/journals47
Publisher: Copernicus