Amazon Deforestation Impacts on Pacific Climate

Abstract:

Variability in eastern Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation is known to affect Amazonian precipitation, but to what extent does changing Amazonian vegetation and rainfall impact eastern Pacific SST? Correlations between Amazonian rainfall rates and other atmospheric parameters (e.g. global precipitation, surface air temperature, vertical velocity, etc.) over the eastern Pacific indicate a strong relationship between these processes, but it does not show causality. In order to investigate the impact on the Pacific climate, the Community Earth System Model is used to test an extreme case of deforestation where broadleaf evergreen trees over the Amazon are replaced by C4 grass.