The Drought of Amazonia in 2023-2024

• Published in: American Journal of Climate Change
• Main Authors: Marengo, Jose, A, Cunha, Ana, P, Espinoza, Jhan-Carlo, Fu, Rong, Schöngart, Jochen, Jimenez, Juan, C, Costa, Mabel, C, Ribeiro, Joao, M, Wongchuig, Sly, Zhao, Siyu
• Other Authors: Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais Sao Paulo, Brésil (CEMADEN), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho = São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (Fédération OSUG)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú = Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), University of California (UC), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia = National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), Université de Valence (Espagne) (UVEG), Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: El Niño; SST in the Tropical Atlantic; Amazon; Drought; River Levels; Heatwave; Dry Season Length; [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Austral; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04723441; https://hal.science/hal-04723441v1/document; https://hal.science/hal-04723441v1/file/2024.%20Marengo%20et%20al.%20The%20drought%20of%20Amazonia%20in%202023-2024.pdf; https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2024.133026

International audience The Amazon basin has experienced an extreme drought that started in the austral summer of 2022-23 and extends into 2024. This drought started earlier than other previous droughts. Although some rain fell during the austral summer, totals remained below average. Higher temperatures during austral winter and spring 2023, which affected most of Central South America, then aggravated drought conditions. This coincided with an intense El Niño and abnormally warm tropical North Atlantic Ocean temperatures since mid-2023. Decreased rainfall across the Amazon basin, negative anomalies in evapotranspiration (derived from latent heat) and soil moisture indicators, as well as increased temperatures during the dry-to-wet transition season, September-October-November (SON) 2023, combined to delay the onset of the wet season in the hydrological year 2023-24 by nearly two months and caused it to be uncharacteristically weak. SON 2023 registered a precipitation deficit of the order of 50 to 100 mm/month, and temperatures +3˚C higher than usual in Amazonia, leading to reduced evapotranspiration and soil moisture indicators. These processes, in turn, determined an exceptionally late onset and a