1. The Rise of Climate-Driven Sediment Discharge in the Amazonian River Basin
- Author
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Diodato, Nazzareno, Filizola, Naziano, Borrelli, Pasquale, Panagos, Panos, Bellocchi, Gianni, Naziano, Filizola, Capitanio, Nazzareno, Met European Research Observatory (MetEROBS), Universidade Federal do Amazonas - UFAM (UFAM), University of Basel (Unibas), European Commission - Joint Research Centre [Ispra] (JRC), Unité Mixte de Recherche sur l'Ecosystème Prairial - UMR (UREP), VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), CAPES-PROCAD Amazonia Program., Diodato, N., Filizola, N., Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., and Bellocchi, G.
- Subjects
Atmospheric Science ,Watershed ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes ,Amazonian ,0208 environmental biotechnology ,Drainage basin ,02 engineering and technology ,lcsh:QC851-999 ,Environmental Science (miscellaneous) ,01 natural sciences ,Amazonia ,Parsimonious modelling ,Precipitation ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Hydrology ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,soil erosion ,Amazon rainforest ,Sediment ,Storm ,15. Life on land ,parsimonious modelling ,6. Clean water ,020801 environmental engineering ,River basin ,13. Climate action ,Soil erosion ,Erosion ,Environmental science ,lcsh:Meteorology. Climatology ,river basin - Abstract
The occurrence of hydrological extremes in the Amazon region and the associated sediment loss during rainfall events are key features in the global climate system. Climate extremes alter the sediment and carbon balance but the ecological consequences of such changes are poorly understood in this region. With the aim of examining the interactions between precipitation and landscape-scale controls of sediment export from the Amazon basin, we developed a parsimonious hydro-climatological model on a multi-year series (1997&ndash, 2014) of sediment discharge data taken at the outlet of Ó, bidos (Brazil) watershed (the narrowest and swiftest part of the Amazon River). The calibrated model (correlation coefficient equal to 0.84) captured the sediment load variability of an independent dataset from a different watershed (the Magdalena River basin), and performed better than three alternative approaches. Our model captured the interdecadal variability and the long-term patterns of sediment export. In our reconstruction of yearly sediment discharge over 1859&ndash, 2014, we observed that landscape erosion changes are mostly induced by single storm events, and result from coupled effects of droughts and storms over long time scales. By quantifying temporal variations in the sediment produced by weathering, this analysis enables a new understanding of the linkage between climate forcing and river response, which drives sediment dynamics in the Amazon basin.
- Published
- 2020
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