Intercomparison and Uncertainty Assessment of Nine Evapotranspiration Estimates Over South America

This study examines the uncertainties and the representations of anomalies of a set of evapotranspiration products over climatologically distinct regions of South America. The products, coming from land surface models, reanalysis, and remote sensing, are chosen from sources that are readily available to the community of users. The results show that the spatial patterns of maximum uncertainty differ among metrics, with dry regions showing maximum relative uncertainties of annual mean evapotranspiration, while energy-limited regions present maximum uncertainties in the representation of the annual cycle and monsoon regions in the representation of anomalous conditions. Furthermore, it is found that land surface models driven by observed atmospheric fields detect meteorological and agricultural droughts in dry regions unequivocally. The remote sensing products employed do not distinguish all agricultural droughts and this could be attributed to the forcing net radiation. The study also highlights important characteristics of individual data sets and recommends users to include assessments of sensitivity to evapotranspiration data sets in their studies, depending on region and nature of study to be conducted.Fil: Sörensson, Anna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Ruscica, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentin

Warm-season precipitation drivers in northeastern Argentina: Diurnal cycle of the atmospheric moisture balance and land–atmosphere coupling

Southeastern South America is influenced by moisture transport from lower latitudes, sustainsintense convective storms and is a land-atmosphere coupling hotspot, but the interconnectionbetween these processes is still not well understood. We present the warm-season diurnal cycleclimatology of the water balance components in the South American Low-Level Jet (SALLJ) exitregion in northeastern Argentina during 1998-2012. Different precipitation-based types of events(clear-sky and rainy days) were explored together with processes tied to the land-atmospherecoupling at the daily scale. Our research was based on simulations with and without soilmoisture-atmosphere coupling with the RCA4 regional climate model. A control simulation wascompared with a sensitivity simulation where the soil moisture was prescribed with the dailyclimatological values from the control run. The ERA5 reanalysis and the satellite precipitationproducts TRMM-3B42 v7 and CMORPH v1.0 bias corrected were used for comparativepurposes. From the diurnal water balance analysis we found that moisture flux convergence inthe region is the main driver for nocturnal precipitation while local evapotranspiration feedsafternoon rain events. Rainy afternoons do not show differences between simulations, but rainynights seem to be affected. Moreover, daily correlations between surface and boundary-layervariables showed that the local coupling is weaker during rainy days than during clear-sky days.Therefore, we suggest that changes in non-local drivers, such as the moisture flux through theSALLJ, are more relevant for rainy nights than the local coupling.Fil: Giles, Julián Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Ruscica, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Menendez, Claudio Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentin

Quinto Aniversario del Acuerdo de París. La investigación conjunta de Francia y Argentina sobre cambio climático

Quinto Aniversario del Acuerdo de París. La investigación conjunta de Francia y Argentina sobre cambio climáticoFil: Blazquez, Josefina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina. Instituto Franco-argentino sobre Estudios del Clima y sus Impactos; Argentina. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Cabre, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina. Instituto Franco-argentino sobre Estudios del Clima y sus Impactos; Argentina. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Ruscica, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina. Instituto Franco-argentino sobre Estudios del Clima y sus Impactos; Argentina. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Franci

Variable tree rooting strategies are key for modelling the distribution, productivity and evapotranspiration of tropical evergreen forests

A variety of modelling studies have suggested tree rooting depth as a key variable to explain evapotranspiration rates, productivity and the geographical distribution of evergreen forests in tropical South America. However, none of those studies have acknowledged resource investment, timing and physical constraints of tree rooting depth within a competitive environment, undermining the ecological realism of their results. Here, we present an approach of implementing variable rooting strategies and dynamic root growth into the LPJmL4.0 (Lund-Potsdam-Jena managed Land) dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) and apply it to tropical and sub-tropical South America under contemporary climate conditions. We show how competing rooting strategies which underlie the trade-off between above- and below-ground carbon investment lead to more realistic simulation of intra-annual productivity and evapotranspiration and consequently of forest cover and spatial biomass distribution. We find that climate and soil depth determine a spatially heterogeneous pattern of mean rooting depth and below-ground biomass across the study region. Our findings support the hypothesis that the ability of evergreen trees to adjust their rooting systems to seasonally dry climates is crucial to explaining the current dominance, productivity and evapotranspiration of evergreen forests in tropical South America.Fil: Sakschewski, Boris. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; AlemaniaFil: Von Bloh, Werner. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Drüke, Markus. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Sörensson, Anna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Ruscica, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Langerwisch, Fanny. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Billing, Maik. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Bereswill, Sarah. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Hirota, Marina. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; AlemaniaFil: Oliveira, Rafael Silva. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; AlemaniaFil: Heinke, Jens. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; AlemaniaFil: Thonicke, Kirsten. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; Alemani

Variable tree rooting strategies are key for modelling the distribution, productivity and evapotranspiration of tropical evergreen forests

A variety of modelling studies have suggested tree rooting depth as a key variable to explain evapotranspiration rates, productivity and the geographical distribution of evergreen forests in tropical South America. However, none of those studies have acknowledged resource investment, timing and physical constraints of tree rooting depth within a competitive environment, undermining the ecological realism of their results. Here, we present an approach of implementing variable rooting strategies and dynamic root growth into the LPJmL4.0 (Lund-Potsdam-Jena managed Land) dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) and apply it to tropical and sub-tropical South America under contemporary climate conditions. We show how competing rooting strategies which underlie the trade-off between above- and below-ground carbon investment lead to more realistic simulation of intra-annual productivity and evapotranspiration and consequently of forest cover and spatial biomass distribution. We find that climate and soil depth determine a spatially heterogeneous pattern of mean rooting depth and below-ground biomass across the study region. Our findings support the hypothesis that the ability of evergreen trees to adjust their rooting systems to seasonally dry climates is crucial to explaining the current dominance, productivity and evapotranspiration of evergreen forests in tropical South America

Understanding climate change impacts on biome and plant distributions in the Andes: Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Climate change is expected to impact mountain biodiversity by shifting species ranges and the biomes they shape. The extent and regional variation in these impacts are still poorly understood, particularly in the highly biodiverse Andes. Regional syntheses of climate change impacts on vegetation are pivotal to identify and guide research priorities. Here we review current data, knowledge and uncertainties in past, present and future climate change impacts on vegetation in the Andes. Location: Andes. Taxon: Plants. Methods: We (i) conducted a literature review on Andean vegetation responses to past and contemporary climatic change, (ii) analysed future climate projections for different elevations and slope orientations at 19 Andean locations using an ensemble of model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5, and (iii) calculated changes in the suitable climate envelope area of Andean biomes and compared these results to studies that used species distribution models. Results: Future climatic changes (2040–2070) are projected to be stronger at high-elevation areas in the tropical Andes (up to 4°C under RCP 8.5), while in the temperate Andes temperature increases are projected to be up to 2°C. Under this worst-case scenario, temperate deciduous forests and the grasslands/steppes from the Central and Southern Andes are predicted to show the greatest losses of suitable climatic space (30% and 17%–23%, respectively). The high vulnerability of these biomes contrasts with the low attention from researchers modelling Andean species distributions. Critical knowledge gaps include a lack of an Andean wide plant checklist, insufficient density of weather stations at high-elevation areas, a lack of high-resolution climatologies that accommodates the Andes' complex topography and climatic processes, insufficient data to model demographic and ecological processes, and low use of palaeo data for distribution modelling. Main conclusions: Climate change is likely to profoundly affect the extent and composition of Andean biomes. Temperate Andean biomes in particular are susceptible to substantial area contractions. There are, however, considerable challenges and uncertainties in modelling species and biome responses and a pressing need for a region-wide approach to address knowledge gaps and improve understanding and monitoring of climate change impacts in these globally important biomes.publishedVersio

Processes of land surface-atmosphere coupling and interactions in southeastern south America

Los procesos físicos intervinientes en la interacción de la superficie continental con la atmósfera son de vital interés en el campo de la climatología. El conocimiento de las zonas con fuerte influencia del suelo sobre la precipitación contribuye a mejorar la predictibilidad en distintas escalas temporales, principalmente la estacional. Pocos estudios se han realizado sobre Sudamérica hasta el momento y, sobre otras regiones principalmente se han realizado durante el período estival. Los conceptos de acople, retroalimentación y memoria son diferenciados para luego ser empleados en distintos análisis realizados sobre simulaciones obtenidas de modelos climáticos regionales. Gran parte del sudeste de Sudamérica (SESA) ha sido caracterizado como una zona de alta eficiencia de acople (EA) entre la humedad del suelo y la evapotranspiración durante un verano en un estudio previo con el modelo climático regional RCA3-E. En tal contexto, en esta Tesis se estudian procesos físicos entre distintas variables de superficie como la humedad del suelo, la evapotranspiración y la precipitación. Distintas subregiones dentro de SESA permiten identificar que donde la EA es alta, la evapotranspiración se encuentra regulada por la humedad del suelo independientemente de la intensidad media de la precipitación. La memoria, de la humedad del suelo es mayor y tiene un patrón espacial más robusto en la capa de suelo profunda que en la capa superficial. Donde la EA es elevada en general la memoria de la capa profunda de suelo es baja, sugiriendo que la atmósfera se ve mayormente influenciada en escala estacional por la dinámica más lenta de la superficie. El estudio de interacción superficie – atmósfera sobre Sudamérica se amplía utilizando una nueva versión del modelo (RCA4). Se encuentra que SESA es una zona de transición climática durante el verano, otoño y primavera en el período 1980-99. Allí, se definen períodos con condiciones anómalamente secas ó húmedas del suelo, en donde resulta interesante estudiar el acople. Mediante simulaciones controladas se encuentra que el acople resulta ser máximo en SESA, durante la estación estival y con condiciones secas de la superficie continental. Mientras que la EA es máxima en toda SESA, el acople de la humedad del suelo con la precipitación se produce solamente al este de la región. Los patrones espaciales de acople entre la humedad del suelo y distintas variables de la capa límite atmosférica revelan que la energía estática húmeda y su gradiente vertical son las variables que contribuyen al desarrollo de la precipitación, como resultado del flujo total en superficie que es afectado por la humedad del suelo solo en la región este de SESA. Otra métrica estadística de acople es implementada sobre simulaciones climatológicas de cuatro modelos climáticos regionales en el contexto de un proyecto de investigación. Los resultados sugieren, consistentemente con los resultados previos, que el acople también es máximo en SESA durante el verano, el otoño y la primavera. Palabras claves: interacción superficie – atmósfera, intensidad del acople, procesos físicos, sudeste de Sudamérica, humedad del suelo, evapotranspiración, precipitación, modelado climático regional.Physical processes which are involved in the interaction of the land surface with the atmosphere are of vital interest in the field of climatology. The knowledge of the areas where the soil strongly influences on precipitation helps improving the predictability on different time scales, mainly on the seasonal one. Few studies have been conducted on South America so far, and other regions have been analyzed mostly during the summer period. Concepts of coupling, feedback and memory are carefully explained and later on they are applied over regional climate model simulations. A large portion of southeastern South America (SESA) has been characterized as a high-efficiency coupling zone (EA) between soil moisture and evapotranspiration during a summer in a previous study with the regional climate model RCA3-E. In this context, the Thesis addressed physical processes between different surface variables such as soil moisture, evapotranspiration and precipitation. Sub-regions within SESA permit to identify that EA is high where the evapotranspiration is regulated by soil moisture regardless of the mean intensity of precipitation. Memory of soil moisture is larger and has a more robust spatial pattern for the root-zone layer than the surface layer. EA is high, in general where the memory of the root-zone layer is low, suggesting that the atmosphere is largely influenced at the seasonal scale by the slower dynamic of the surface. The study of land surface – atmosphere interaction over South America is expanded using a new version of the model (RCA4). It is found that SESA is a climatic transition zone during the summer, fall and spring in 1980-99. There, different periods of wet or dry soil conditions are defined for studying the coupling. Through controlled simulations it is found that the coupling is the highest in SESA during the summer season and for dry conditions of the land surface. While EA is high throughout SESA, the coupling between soil moisture and precipitation only occurs in its eastern region. The spatial patterns of the coupling between soil moisture and other atmospheric boundary layer variables reveal that the moist static energy and its vertical gradient are the variables that contribute to the development of precipitation as a result of the total surface flow that is affected by the soil moisture only in the eastern region of SESA. Another statistic metric of coupling is implemented on longer simulations of four regional climate models in the context of a project. Consistently to previous results, these results suggest that the coupling is high at SESA during the summer, fall and spring. Keywords: land – atmosphere interactions, coupling strength, physical processes, southeastern South America, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, precipitation, regional climate modeling.Fil:Ruscica, Romina Carla. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Land surface atmosphere interaction in future South American climate using a multi-model ensemble

The land-atmosphere interaction for reference and future climate is estimated with a regional climate model ensemble. In reference climate, more than 50% of the models show interaction in southeastern South America during austral spring, summer and autumn. In future climate, the region remains a strong hotspot although somewhat weakened due to the wet response that enhance energy limitation on the evapotranspiration. The region of the Brazilian Highlands and Matto Grosso appears as a new extensive hotspot during austral spring. This is related to a dry response which is probably accentuated by land surface feedbacks.Fil: Ruscica, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Menendez, Claudio Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Sörensson, A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentin

Hydrological links in Southeastern South America: soil moisture memory and coupling within a hot spot

Southeastern South America has been identified as a hot spot of soil moisture and evapotranspiration coupling efficiency during austral summer in a previous study. Here, hydrological processes such as coupling and memory of soil moisture, evapotranspiration and precipitation and the links between these variables are discussed on the daily time scale over this region. The correlations between surface variables, rainfall persistence and soil moisture memory are discussed over three subregions selected on basis of their coupling efficiency and mean daily intensity of precipitation. The relationship between surface climate and land cover is qualitatively assessed. The memory, or statistical persistence, is longer and has a more robust spatial pattern for the root zone than for the top soil moisture. Where the coupling efficiency between soil moisture and evapotranspiration is high, the evapotranspiration is regulated by soil moisture conditions independently on the intensity of precipitation, whereas in a region with low coupling efficiency and high intensity, the evapotranspiration is regulated by the atmosphere. The coupling efficiency is in general related to the memory of the root-zone layer, since the soil state is modified when the soil moisture and the atmosphere interact, resulting in an anticorrelation between these metrics. The persistence of rainfall is another factor that modulates the memory. Nevertheless, there are some areas around the La Plata River where both the coupling efficiency and the memory are relatively high, such as Uruguay and the northeast of Argentina, where an improvement of soil moisture initial conditions could improve predictability of surface variables on a monthly timescale.Fil: Ruscica, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Sörensson, A. A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Menendez, Claudio Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; Argentin