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The Hydrology and Energy Balance of the Amazon Basin

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Interactions Between Biosphere, Atmosphere and Human Land Use in the Amazon Basin

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 227))

Abstract

The Amazon basin is the planet’s largest and most intense land-based centre of precipitation. This convective system is driven by high net surface radiation, which is dissipated via fluxes of latent heat and sensible heat. Over the long term (1 year or greater), incoming precipitation over the basin is balanced by evaporative fluxes of water to the atmosphere and discharge, which returns excess water to the oceans. The temporal variability of this cycle is largely controlled by oscillations of tropical Pacific and North Atlantic sea surface temperatures, while synergies between climate and forest structure and functioning control much of the observed spatial variability. Field observations and numerical models indicate that large-scale deforestation has decreased net surface radiation and evapotranspiration, increasing sensible heat flux, water yield, and stream discharge in many locations, particularly in the agricultural frontier of southeastern Amazonia. In the future, increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases are expected to increase temperatures, drought frequency, and drought intensity in the Amazon, causing further changes to the cycling of energy and water in the basin.

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Acknowledgements

Funding from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the US National Science Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has supported much of our research in the Amazon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Rd, Falmouth, MA, 02540, USA

    Michael T. Coe, Marcia N. Macedo, Paulo M. Brando, Paul Lefebvre & Prajjwal Panday

  2. Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM), Belém, Brazil

    Paulo M. Brando & Divino Silvério

  3. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil

    Divino Silvério

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  1. Michael T. Coe
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  2. Marcia N. Macedo
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  3. Paulo M. Brando
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  4. Paul Lefebvre
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  5. Prajjwal Panday
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  6. Divino Silvério
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Correspondence to Michael T. Coe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil

    Laszlo Nagy

  2. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Manaus, Brazil

    Bruce R. Forsberg

  3. Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Paulo Artaxo

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Coe, M.T., Macedo, M.N., Brando, P.M., Lefebvre, P., Panday, P., Silvério, D. (2016). The Hydrology and Energy Balance of the Amazon Basin. In: Nagy, L., Forsberg, B., Artaxo, P. (eds) Interactions Between Biosphere, Atmosphere and Human Land Use in the Amazon Basin. Ecological Studies, vol 227. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-49902-3_3

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