Open AccessConcurrent climate impacts of tropical South America land‐cover change
Author(s) -
Hirota Marina,
Oyama Marcos Daisuke,
Nobre Carlos
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.329
Subject(s) - amazon rainforest , land cover , climatology , desertification , anomaly (physics) , precipitation , general circulation model , environmental science , climate change , geography , tropics , land use , meteorology , ecology , geology , biology , physics , condensed matter physics
The climatic effects of concurrent land‐cover changes in Amazonia and Northeast Brazil (NEB) were evaluated by simulations using the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies Atmospheric General Circulation Model (CPTEC‐AGCM). Three experiments were performed: Amazon savannization, NEB desertification and both land‐cover changes occurring concurrently. We found that land‐cover change from adjacent areas do affect both Amazon and NEB regions and that the negative precipitation anomaly in NEB due to concurrent land‐cover changes in Amazon and NEB is weaker than the linear addition of the anomalies considering the land‐cover changes separately (synergistic behaviour). A simple mechanism was proposed to explain this behaviour. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society