Title
The extreme 2014 flood in south-western Amazon basin: The role of tropical-subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient
Date Issued
01 December 2014
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Institute of Physics Publishing
Abstract
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.
Volume
9
Issue
12
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Meteorología y ciencias atmosféricas Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos Investigación climática
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84919628901
Source
Environmental Research Letters
ISSN of the container
17489318
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus