Abstract ID: 449

Amazon deforestation and climate change in a fully coupled model simulation

Numerical simulation experiments using a global atmospheric and coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models are done to gauge the effects of Amazon deforestation on climate change. An ensemble approach is adopted, with a ten members ensemble-average control simulation compared with ten members ensemble-averages of three deforested scenarios (50% small meshes, 50% large meshes, and 100%) simulations. Each simulation is twenty years long and start from the same set of atmospheric and oceanic initial conditions. The simulation results show large precipitation changes over the Amazon basin, with the coupled simulation results presenting rainfall departures over the Amazon that are twice as large as those shown for the prescribed SST simulations. Additionally, the remote atmospheric responses to Amazon deforestation scenarios are only detectable for the coupled simulations, which revealed global ocean circulation changes conducive to an enhanced ENSO-like state. This, in turn, is interpreted as the physical phenomena contributing to the extra rainfall reduction over the Amazon on the coupled simulations.

Session:  Feedbacks to Climate - Effects of deforestation on regional and global climate.

Presentation Type:  Oral