Publication Date:
2019
Description:
Abstract
The Amazon River low‐salinity plume takes part in important ocean and atmosphere processes that influence climate. In the last three decades, the intensification of the hydrological cycle has increased the interannual variability of total freshwater discharged into the ocean. However, the feedback mechanisms of the Amazon River plume acting on this intensification are not fully understood. Correlation maps and multiple regression analysis applied to 16 years of satellite data and river flow measurements indicate that a positive precipitation trend of 15 mm/year in the western Amazon basin follows the long‐term warming of the tropical Atlantic. This increased the total amount of freshwater discharged into the ocean and reduced the Amazon River plume salinity by 3.5% per year in the main plume water export pathway. Based on these results we propose a process‐oriented model of the feedback process that explains the intensification of the Amazon hydrological cycle.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
