Long-Term Spatiotemporal Variation of Droughts in the Amazon River Basin

Water

卷:13

T.V. Lakshmi Kumar¹  Franklin Paredes-Trejo²  ManojKumar Thakur³  Jason Giovannettone⁴  HumbertoAlves Barbosa⁵  Catarina de Oliveira Buriti⁶ 

[1] Atmospheric Science Research Laboratory, SRM University, Kattankulathur 603203, India;

[2] Department of Civil Engineering, San Carlos Campus, University of the Western Plains Ezequiel Zamora, San Carlos 2201, Venezuela;

[3] Department of Physics, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal;

[4] Dewberry, 8401 Arlington Blvd., Fairfax, VA 22031, USA;

[5] Laboratório de Análise e Processamento de Imagens de Satélites (LAPIS), Instituto de Ciências Atmosféricas, A. C. Simões Campus, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Alagoas 57072-900, Brazil;

[6] National Semi-Arid Institute (INSA), Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC), Campina Grande 58100-000, Brazil;

关键词: Amazonia;    drought;    Amazon river basin;    SPEI;   

DOI  :  10.3390/w13030351

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Amazon River Basin (ARB) plays an important role in the hydrological cycle at the regional and global scales. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the incidence and severity of droughts could increase in this basin due to human-induced climate change. Therefore, the assessment of the impacts of extreme droughts in the ARB is of vital importance to develop appropriate drought mitigation strategies. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive characterization of dry spells and extreme drought events in terms of occurrence, persistence, spatial extent, severity, and impacts on streamflow and vegetation in the ARB during the period 1901–2018. The Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at multiple time scales (i.e., 3, 6, and 12 months) was used as a drought index. A weak basin-wide drying trend was observed, but there was no evidence of a trend in extreme drought events in terms of spatial coverage, intensity, and duration for the period 1901–2018. Nevertheless, a progressive transition to drier-than-normal conditions was evident since the 1970s, coinciding with different patterns of coupling between the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) as well as an increasing incidence of higher-than-normal surface air temperatures over the basin. Furthermore, a high recurrence of short-term drought events with high level of exposure to long-term drought conditions on the sub-basins Ucayali, Japurá-Caquetá, Jari, Jutaí, Marañón, and Xingu was observed in recent years. These results could be useful to guide social, economic, and water resource policy decision-making processes in the Amazon basin countries.

【 授权许可】

Unknown