IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-30317-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Amazonian terrestrial water balance inferred from satellite-observed water vapor isotopes

Author

Listed:
  • Mingjie Shi

    (University of California
    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • John R. Worden

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Adriana Bailey

    (National Center for Atmospheric Research)

  • David Noone

    (University of Auckland)

  • Camille Risi

    (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique)

  • Rong Fu

    (University of California)

  • Sarah Worden

    (University of California)

  • Robert Herman

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Vivienne Payne

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Thomas Pagano

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Kevin Bowman

    (University of California
    California Institute of Technology)

  • A. Anthony Bloom

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Sassan Saatchi

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Junjie Liu

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Joshua B. Fisher

    (University of California
    Chapman University)

Abstract

Atmospheric humidity and soil moisture in the Amazon forest are tightly coupled to the region’s water balance, or the difference between two moisture fluxes, evapotranspiration minus precipitation (ET-P). However, large and poorly characterized uncertainties in both fluxes, and in their difference, make it challenging to evaluate spatiotemporal variations of water balance and its dependence on ET or P. Here, we show that satellite observations of the HDO/H2O ratio of water vapor are sensitive to spatiotemporal variations of ET-P over the Amazon. When calibrated by basin-scale and mass-balance estimates of ET-P derived from terrestrial water storage and river discharge measurements, the isotopic data demonstrate that rainfall controls wet Amazon water balance variability, but ET becomes important in regulating water balance and its variability in the dry Amazon. Changes in the drivers of ET, such as above ground biomass, could therefore have a larger impact on soil moisture and humidity in the dry (southern and eastern) Amazon relative to the wet Amazon.

Suggested Citation

  • Mingjie Shi & John R. Worden & Adriana Bailey & David Noone & Camille Risi & Rong Fu & Sarah Worden & Robert Herman & Vivienne Payne & Thomas Pagano & Kevin Bowman & A. Anthony Bloom & Sassan Saatchi , 2022. "Amazonian terrestrial water balance inferred from satellite-observed water vapor isotopes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30317-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30317-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30317-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-30317-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Worden & David Noone & Kevin Bowman, 2007. "Importance of rain evaporation and continental convection in the tropical water cycle," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7127), pages 528-532, February.
    2. Arie Staal & Obbe A. Tuinenburg & Joyce H. C. Bosmans & Milena Holmgren & Egbert H. van Nes & Marten Scheffer & Delphine Clara Zemp & Stefan C. Dekker, 2018. "Forest-rainfall cascades buffer against drought across the Amazon," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(6), pages 539-543, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Onil Banerjee & Martin Cicowiez & Marcia Macedo & Žiga Malek & Peter Verburg & Sean Goodwin & Renato Vargas & Ludmila Rattis & Paulo M. Brando & Michael T. Coe & Christopher Neill & Octavio Damiani, 2020. "An Amazon Tipping Point: The Economic and Environmental Fallout," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0292, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    2. Vinícius B. P. Chagas & Pedro L. B. Chaffe & Günter Blöschl, 2022. "Climate and land management accelerate the Brazilian water cycle," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Nico Wunderling & Frederik Wolf & Obbe A. Tuinenburg & Arie Staal, 2022. "Network motifs shape distinct functioning of Earth’s moisture recycling hubs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Zhaowei Jing & Wusheng Yu & Stephen Lewis & Lonnie G. Thompson & Jie Xu & Jingyi Zhang & Baiqing Xu & Guangjian Wu & Yaoming Ma & Yong Wang & Rong Guo, 2022. "Inverse altitude effect disputes the theoretical foundation of stable isotope paleoaltimetry," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Yanfeng Wang & Ping Huang, 2022. "Potential fire risks in South America under anthropogenic forcing hidden by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Ariel Ma & Jian Yu & William Uspal, 2021. "Generating Electricity from Natural Evaporation Using PVDF Thin Films Incorporating Nanocomposite Materials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, January.
    7. Nicholas A. O’Mara & Charlotte Skonieczny & David McGee & Gisela Winckler & Aloys J.-M. Bory & Louisa I. Bradtmiller & Bruno Malaizé & Pratigya J. Polissar, 2022. "Pleistocene drivers of Northwest African hydroclimate and vegetation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Timothy M. Lenton & Jesse F. Abrams & Annett Bartsch & Sebastian Bathiany & Chris A. Boulton & Joshua E. Buxton & Alessandra Conversi & Andrew M. Cunliffe & Sophie Hebden & Thomas Lavergne & Benjamin , 2024. "Remotely sensing potential climate change tipping points across scales," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Araujo, Rafael, 2024. "The value of tropical forests to hydropower," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30317-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.