The 2010 Amazon Drought
Several global circulation models (GCMs)
project an increase in the frequency and
severity of drought events affecting the
Amazon region as a consequence of anthropogenic
greenhouse gas emissions (1). The proximate
cause is twofold, increasing Pacific sea surface
temperatures (SSTs), which may intensify El Niño
Southern Oscillation events and associated periodic
Amazon droughts, and an increase in the frequency
of historically rarer droughts associated with
high Atlantic SSTs and northwest displacement of
the intertropical convergence zone (1, 2). Such
droughts may lead to a loss of some Amazon forests,
which would accelerate climate change (3).
In 2005, a major Atlantic SST–associated drought
occurred, identified as a 1-in-100-year event (2).
Here, we report on a second drought in 2010, when
Atlantic SSTs were again high.
Publication Date: 2011
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