Hydroclimatological Teleconnections due to land-cover change in Amazonia
Roni
Avissar, Duke University, avissar@duke.edu
(Presenting)
David
Werth, Duke University, werth@duke.edu
Past studies have indicated that deforestation of the Amazon basin would result in an important rainfall decrease in that region, but that this process had no significant impact on the global temperature or precipitation and had only local implications. Here we show through numerical simulations that deforestation of tropical regions significantly affects precipitation, both positively and negatively, at mid and high latitudes through hydroclimatological teleconnections. In particular, we find that the deforestation of the Amazon basin and Central Africa severely reduces rainfall in the US Midwest during the spring and summer seasons, when water is crucial for agricultural productivity in that region. On the other hand, the elimination of any tropical forests considerably enhances summer rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula.