WORKING GROUPS

FY 05/06 | FY 04/05 | FY 03/04 | SPRING 2003 | FALL 2002 | SPRING 2002

FY 04/05

INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE AMAZON AND ORINOCO PLUMES AND THEIR ROLES IN CLIMATE/PALEOCLIMATE FEEDBACK

The Amazon is the world's largest river in terms of average discharge, and the Orinoco is the world's fourth largest river. Fresh-water plumes of the Amazon and Orinoco have a major impact on the circulation and productivity of the adjacent tropical Atlantic Ocean, and are highly variable on both interannual and decadal time scales. In addition, there is increasing evidence of a long-term secular increase in precipitation in the Amazon basin, and a likely increase in Amazon discharge, perhaps due to global-scale climate warming.

This working group’s overarching goal is to contribute to overall understanding of the role of the Amazon and Orinoco plumes in climate forcing and feedback by addressing two questions:
(1) what is the sea-surface temperature (SST) signal associated with the fresh-water plumes of the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers where they enter the adjacent ocean, and (2) what is the intra- and inter-annual variability of SST due to the variable discharge of the Amazon and Orinoco and the variable dynamics of plume dispersal in the adjacent ocean?

The group began to tackle these questions through a two-day workshop held at Duke in May 2005:

CGC SYMPOSIUM: AMAZON CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY
May 9-10, 2005
A 2-day workshop with national and international global change scientists to discuss Amazon climate and hydrology took place in Love Auditorium, Levine Science Research Center, on Monday and Tuesday, May 9-10. The symposium, sponsored by the Center on Global Change, was free and open to the public.

Amazon symposium agenda

Streaming video of symposium talks (Real Player format)

9 May 2005

play video1
(1 hr, 12 min)

play video2
(1 hr, 11 min)

  • Antonio Nobre
    "Amazonia, the Green Ocean: Climate and biosphere interaction"

play video3
(1 hr, 12 min)

  • Rong Fu
    "What controls the seasonality of Amazon rainfall and its interannual variability?"

play video4
(1 hr, 11 min)

  • Mark Bush
    "Amazonia and the Andes: Paleoecological data, data gaps, and hypotheses to be tested"

play video5
(1 hr, 20 min)

  • Carlos Nobre
    "Multiple biome-climate equilibria in Amazonia and perspectives for the future of tropical forest"

10 May 2005

play video6
(1 hr, 12 min)

  • Roni Avissar
    "The role of tropical forests in the regional and global hydroclimate"

play video7
(1 hr, 14 min)

  • Kerry Cook
    "South American climate of the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum): A regional modeling study"

play video8
(1 hr, 11 min)

  • Paul Baker
    "Recent advances and remaining controversies in tropical South American paleoclimatology"

play video9
(1 hr, 11 min)

  • Jeffrey Richey
    "From small streams to the sea: A multi-scale synthesis of carbon and hydrological dynamics across the Amazon landscape"

Amazon Symposium slide presentations
Click on the title to download a presentation in Powerpoint format.
Warning: large files

  1. John Terborgh (Duke University)
    Anthropogenic forest change in the 21st century: A warning to policy-makers or a foretaste of things to come? (8 Mb)

  2. Antonio Nobre (INPA)
    Amazonia, the Green Ocean: Climate and biosphere interaction (35 Mb)

  3. Rong Fu (Georgia Tech)
    What controls the seasonality of Amazon rainfall and its interannual variability? (9 Mb)

  4. Mark Bush (Florida Institute of Technology)
    Andes to Amazonia: What we think we know and what we don't (6 Mb)

  5. Carlos Nobre (CPTEC / INPE)
    Multiple biome-climate equilibria in Amazonia and perspectives for the future of tropical forest (12 Mb)

    Model videos (.avi format):

  6. Roni Avissar (Duke University)
    The role of tropical forests in the regional and global hydroclimate (12 Mb)

  7. Kerry Cook (Cornell University)
    South American climate of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM): A regional modeling study (2 Mb)

  8. Paul Baker (Duke University)
    Recent advances and remaining controversies in tropical South American paleoclimatology (52 Mb)

  9. Jeffrey Richey (University of Washington)
    From the sea (and atmosphere) to small streams: A multi-scale synthesis of carbon and hydrological dynamics across the Amazon landscape (with minor reflections on SE Asia) (48 Mb)

The group is composed of climatologists, hydrologists, atmospheric scientists, and oceanographers from a number of institutions:
Paul A. Baker, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University
Roni Avissar, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University
Kerry Cook, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University
Bruce Corliss, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University
Gary Dwyer, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University
David J. Hollander, Oceanography, University of South Florida
Chuanmin Hu, Oceanography, University of South Florida
Jonathan D. Karr, Phytotron Laboratory, Duke University
Susan Lozier, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University
Frank Muller-Karger, Oceanography, University of South Florida
Renato Silva, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University

©2007 Center on Global Change
Box 90658, Duke University, Durham NC 27708-0658
A150 Levine Science Research Center (LSRC), Research Drive
Tel: 919-681-7180 Fax: 919-681-7176
E-mail: cgc-web@nicholas.duke.edu