Sources and routing of the Amazon River Flood Wave

Richey, Jeffrey E.; Mertes, Leal A. K.; Dunne, Thomas; Victória, Reynaldo Luiz; Forsberg, Bruce R.; Tancredi, Antônio C. N. S.; Oliveira, Eurides de

doi:10.1029/gb003i003p00191

Cited by 173 publications

(153 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Both the Guiana Highlands and the Brazilian Highlands (north-west and south of the mouth, respectively) can be identified with a slightly higher velocity than the lowland. For the three example sites Cruzeiro do Sul, Porto Velho andÓbidos, we calculate routing velocities of 0.25 ms −1 , which agree with those reported by Birkett et al (2002) and Richey et al (1989) who measured a flow velocity of 0.35 ± 0.05 and 0.3 ms −1 , respectively. A sensitivity analysis carried out to estimate the effect of altered R and k values (Eq.…”

Section: Routing Velocitysupporting

confidence: 80%

Potential effects of climate change on inundation patterns in the Amazon Basin

Langerwisch

Rost

Gerten

et al. 2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Floodplain forests, namely the Várzea and Igapó, cover an area of more than 97 000 km 2 . A key factor for their function and diversity is annual flooding. Increasing air temperature and higher precipitation variability caused by climate change are expected to shift the flooding regime during this century, and thereby impact floodplain ecosystems, their biodiversity and riverine ecosystem services. To assess the effects of climate change on the flooding regime, we use the Dynamic Global Vegetation and Hydrology Model LPJmL, enhanced by a scheme that realistically simulates monthly flooded area. Simulation results of discharge and inundation under contemporary conditions compare well against sitelevel measurements and observations. The changes of calculated inundation duration and area under climate change projections from 24 IPCC AR4 climate models differ regionally towards the end of the 21st century. In all, 70 % of the 24 climate projections agree on an increase of flooded area in about one third of the basin. Inundation duration increases dramatically by on average three months in western and around one month in eastern Amazonia. The time of high-and low-water peak shifts by up to three months. Additionally, we find a decrease in the number of extremely dry years and in the probability of the occurrence of three consecutive extremely dry years. The total number of extremely wet years does not change drastically but the probability of three consecutive extremely wet years decreases by up to 30 % in the east and increases by up to 25 % in the west. These changes implicate significant shifts in regional vegetation and climate, and will dramatically alter carbon and water cycles.

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Section: Routing Velocitysupporting

confidence: 80%

Potential effects of climate change on inundation patterns in the Amazon Basin

Langerwisch

Rost

Gerten

et al. 2013

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…The stream overflows its banks onto adjacent lands. Over the Amazon River basin, Richey et al (1989) estimated that up to 30 % of the water in the main stem is derived from water that passed through the floodplain. Thus, as the floodplain storage is significant in relation to the streamflow, it must be taken into account explicitly.…”

Section: Floodplains and Swamps Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

Discharge simulation in the sub-basins of the Amazon using ORCHIDEE forced by new datasets

Guimberteau

Drapeau

Ronchail

et al. 2012

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

103

151

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Abstract. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of the ORCHIDEE land surface model to simulate streamflows over each sub-basin of the Amazon River basin. For this purpose, simulations are performed with a routing module including the influence of floodplains and swamps on river discharge and validated against on-site hydrological measurements collected within the HYBAM observatory over the 1980-2000 period. When forced by the NCC global meteorological dataset, the initial version of ORCHIDEE shows discrepancies with ORE HYBAM measurements with underestimation by 15 % of the annual mean streamflow atÓbidos hydrological station. Consequently, several improvements are incrementally added to the initial simulation in order to reduce those discrepancies. First, values of NCC precipitation are substituted by ORE HYBAM daily in-situ rainfall observations from the meteorological services of Amazonian countries, interpolated over the basin. It highly improves the simulated streamflow over the northern and western parts of the basin, whereas streamflow over southern regions becomes overestimated, probably due to the extension of rainy spots that may be exaggerated by our interpolation method, or to an underestimation of simulated evapotranspiration when compared to flux tower measurements. Second, the initial map of maximal fractions of floodplains and swamps which largely underestimates floodplains areas over the main stem of the Amazon River and over the region of Llanos de Moxos in Bolivia, is substituted by a new one with a better agreement with different estimates over the basin. Simulated monthly water height is consequently better represented in ORCHIDEE when compared to Topex/Poseidon measurements over the main stem of the Amazon. Finally, a calibration of the time constant of the floodplain reservoir is performed to adjust the mean simulated seasonal peak flow at Obidos in agreement with the observations.Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. M. Guimberteau et al.: Amazon discharge simulation using ORCHIDEE forced by new datasets

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“…Its strong and regular mainstem river is responsible for approximately 13% of the total global runoff into the oceans (Richey et al, 1989b;Marengo et al, 1994;Callede et al, 2002;Dingman, 2002;Foley et al, 2002). Its abundant vegetation releases large amounts of water vapor by transpiration, which, together with evaporation, equals 50-60% of the total rainfall in the region (Franken and Leopoldo, 1984;Vörösmarty et al, 1989;Salati and Nobre, 1991;Victoria et al, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of deforestation on the hydrological cycle in Amazonia: a review on scale and resolution

D’Almeida

Vörösmarty

Hurtt

et al. 2007

Intl Journal of Climatology

228

137

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Abstract:This paper reviews the effects of deforestation on the hydrological cycle in Amazonia according to recent modeling and observational studies performed within different spatial scales and resolutions. The predictions that follow from future scenarios of a complete deforestation in the region point to a restrained water cycle, while the simulated effects of small, disturbed areas show a contrasting tendency. Differences between coarsely spatially averaged observations and finely sampled data sets have also been encountered. These contrasts are only partially explained by the different spatial resolutions among models and observations, since they seem to be further associated with the weakening of precipitation recycling under scenarios of extensive deforestation and with the potential intensification of convection over areas of land-surface heterogeneity. Therefore, intrinsic and interrelated scale and heterogeneity dependencies on the impact of deforestation in Amazonia on the hydrological cycle are revealed and the acknowledgement of the relevance of these dependencies sets a few challenges for the future.

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Sources and routing of the Amazon River Flood Wave

Cited by 173 publications

References 21 publications

Potential effects of climate change on inundation patterns in the Amazon Basin

Potential effects of climate change on inundation patterns in the Amazon Basin

Discharge simulation in the sub-basins of the Amazon using ORCHIDEE forced by new datasets

The effects of deforestation on the hydrological cycle in Amazonia: a review on scale and resolution

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