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- H12I-09: Vapor Pressure Deficit Contributions to the Shortened Wet Season in the Southern Amazon
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Board 1356‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)NOLA CC
Author(s):Generic 'disconnected' Message
Alex Chang, University of California Los Angeles (First Author, Presenting Author)
Rong Fu, University of California, Los Angeles
The Amazon rainforest plays a crucial role in South America's water and carbon cycles. In recent decades, the southern Amazon’s rainy season has been shortened by about a month, increasing the risk of droughts, wildfires, and damage to the Amazon’s ecosystem. This is caused by a delay in the wet season onset (WSO). Previous studies have shown that surface air vapor pressure deficit (VPD) has been increasing due to warmer and drier air during the dry season in the Amazon. However, it remains unclear how much an increase in VPD contributes to the delayed WSO. Using a model that simulates air parcels rising in the atmosphere, we find that warmer and drier air near the surface makes it harder for the atmosphere to generate rainfall during the dry season and its transition to the wet season, thus delaying it. The greatest increases in VPD also happen during this time. Warmer Atlantic Ocean water temperatures also play a smaller role in the delayed WSO by reducing moisture in the upper atmosphere. These findings explain how climate change is changing the Amazon’s seasonal rainfall and increasing its vulnerability to disasters, both climatologically and ecologically.
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