Hurricanes as an enabler of Amazon fires

A teleconnection between North Atlantic tropical storms and Amazon fires is investigated as a possible case of compound remote extreme events. The seasonal cycles of the storms and fires are in phase with a maximum around September and have significant inter-annual correlation. Years of high Amazon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: Tsui, EYL, Toumi, R
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2021
Subjects:
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
VARIABILITY
ATLANTIC
RAINFALL
SAVANNA
AMERICA
FOREST
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/90978
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96420-6
Description
Summary:A teleconnection between North Atlantic tropical storms and Amazon fires is investigated as a possible case of compound remote extreme events. The seasonal cycles of the storms and fires are in phase with a maximum around September and have significant inter-annual correlation. Years of high Amazon fire activity are associated with atmospheric conditions over the Atlantic which favour tropical cyclones. We propose that anomalous precipitation and latent heating in the Caribbean, partly caused by tropical storms, leads to a thermal circulation response which creates anomalous subsidence and enhances surface solar heating over the Amazon. The Caribbean storms and precipitation anomalies could thus promote favourable atmospheric conditions for Amazon fire.

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