TY - JOUR
T1 - The extreme 2014 flood in south-western Amazon basin
T2 - The role of tropical-subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient
AU - Espinoza, Jhan Carlo
AU - Marengo, José Antonio
AU - Ronchail, Josyane
AU - Carpio, Jorge Molina
AU - Flores, Luís Noriega
AU - Guyot, Jean Loup
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Unprecedented wet conditions are reported in the 2014 summer (December-March) in South-western Amazon, with rainfall about 100% above normal. Discharge in the Madeira River (the main southern Amazon tributary) has been 74% higher than normal (58 000 m3 s-1) at Porto Velho and 380% (25 000 m3 s-1) at Rurrenabaque, at the exit of the Andes in summer, while levels of the Rio Negro at Manaus were 29.47 m in June 2014, corresponding to the fifth highest record during the 113 years record of the Rio Negro. While previous floods in Amazonia have been related to La Niña and/or warmer than normal tropical South Atlantic, the 2014 rainfall and flood anomalies are associated with warm condition in the western Pacific-Indian Ocean and with an exceptionally warm Subtropical South Atlantic. Our results suggest that the tropical and subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient is a main driver for moisture transport from the Atlantic toward south-western Amazon, and this became exceptionally intense during summer of 2014.
AB - Unprecedented wet conditions are reported in the 2014 summer (December-March) in South-western Amazon, with rainfall about 100% above normal. Discharge in the Madeira River (the main southern Amazon tributary) has been 74% higher than normal (58 000 m3 s-1) at Porto Velho and 380% (25 000 m3 s-1) at Rurrenabaque, at the exit of the Andes in summer, while levels of the Rio Negro at Manaus were 29.47 m in June 2014, corresponding to the fifth highest record during the 113 years record of the Rio Negro. While previous floods in Amazonia have been related to La Niña and/or warmer than normal tropical South Atlantic, the 2014 rainfall and flood anomalies are associated with warm condition in the western Pacific-Indian Ocean and with an exceptionally warm Subtropical South Atlantic. Our results suggest that the tropical and subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient is a main driver for moisture transport from the Atlantic toward south-western Amazon, and this became exceptionally intense during summer of 2014.
KW - Amazon basin
KW - Bolivian Amazon
KW - Brazilian Amazon
KW - Madeira river
KW - extreme flood
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84919628901&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/9/12/124007
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/9/12/124007
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:84919628901
VL - 9
JO - Environmental Research Letters
JF - Environmental Research Letters
SN - 1748-9326
IS - 12
M1 - 124007
ER -