Extreme floods and severe droughts on the Amazon River have occurred more frequently in the last 40 years.
Extreme floods and severe droughts on the Amazon River have occurred more frequently in the last 40 years. Eight of the 12 most extreme floods in the 121-year streamflow record at Manaus, located on the Negro River, a tributary of the Amazon River, have occurred in just the last 14 years.
Natural climate variations, deforestation and anthropogenic climate change are all likely contributors to the recent Amazon River level extremes. Despite the rapid increase in severe flooding, a new paper by researchers from the U of A indicates recent floods and droughts in the Amazon River Basin may have not yet exceeded the range of natural hydroclimatic variability.
The American Meteorological Society published these recent findings by Daniela Granato-Souza, a post-doctoral student in geosciences, and David Stahle, a Distinguished Professor of geosciences, in a new paper titled, “Drought and flood extremes on the Amazon River and in northeast Brazil, 1790-1900.”
Read more at: University of Arkansas
Photo Credit: Daniela Granato-Souza
