Contrasting North–South changes in Amazon wet-day and dry-day frequency and related atmospheric features (1981–2017)

• Published in: Climate Dynamics
• Main Authors: Espinoza, Jhan Carlo, ronchail, josyane, Marengo, José Antonio, Segura, Hans
• Other Authors: Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP), Océan et variabilité du climat (VARCLIM), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU), Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais (CEMADEN), 12630-000 Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil, Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), PNICP-Peru 397-PNICP-PIAP-2014 FAPESP/CNPq/CAPES INCT-Climate Change Phase 2 project 2014/50848-9 465501/2014-1
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02192463; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4462-2

This study provides an updated analysis of the evolution of seasonal rainfall intensity in the Amazon basin, considering the 1981-2017 period and based on HOP (interpolated HYBAM observed precipitation) and CHIRPS (The Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations) rainfall data sets. Dry and wet day frequencies as well as extreme percentiles are used in this analysis, producing the same results. Dry-day frequency (DDF) significantly increases in the Southern Amazon (p<0.01), particularly during September-November (SON) in the Bolivian Amazon, central Peruvian Amazon and far southern Brazilian Amazon. Consistently, total rainfall in the southern Amazon during SON also shows a significant diminution (p<0.05), estimated at 18%. The increase in SON DDF in the southern Amazon is related to a warming of the northern tropical Atlantic Ocean and a weakening of water vapour flux from the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The increase in DDF in the southern Amazon is related to enhanced wind subsidence (ascendance) over the 10 degrees S-20 degrees S (5 degrees S-5 degrees N) region and to a deficit (excess) of specific humidity at 1000-300hPa south of 10 degrees S (north of the 5 degrees S), which suggest a reduction of deep convection over southern Amazonia. Subsidence over the southern Amazon shows a significant trend (p<0.01), which can explain the significant increase in DDF. Wet-day frequency (WDF) significantly increases in the northern Amazon, particularly during the March-May (MAM) period (p<0.01), producing an estimated rainfall increase during MAM of 17% (p<0.01) between 1981 and 2017. Significant changes in both WDF and rainfall in northern Amazon have been detected in 1998 (p<0.01). After 1998, the increase in MAM WDF and rainfall is explained by enhanced moisture flux from the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and an increase in deep convection over the northern and northwestern Amazon. These evolutions in DDF and WDF and in the tropical atmosphere occur simultaneously with an increase in ...