2005 drought event in the Amazon River basin as measured by GRACE and estimated by climate models

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Abstract
Satellite gravity measurements from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) provide new quantitative measures of the 2005 extreme drought event in the Amazon river basin, regarded as the worst in over a century. GRACE measures a significant decrease in terrestrial water storage (TWS) in the central Amazon basin in the summer of 2005, relative to the average of the 5 other summer periods in the GRACE era. In contrast, data-assimilating climate and land surface models significantly underestimate the drought intensity. GRACE measurements are consistent with accumulated precipitation data from satellite remote sensing and are also supported by in situ water-level data from river gauge stations. This study demonstrates the unique potential of satellite gravity measurements in monitoring large-scale severe drought and flooding events and in evaluating advanced climate and land surface models.
Year of Publication
2009
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research (Solid Earth)
Volume
114
Number of Pages
05404
Date Published
05/2009
URL
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009JGRB..11405404C
DOI
10.1029/2008JB006056
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