PNNL

Abstract

Amazon rainfall is subject to year-to-year fluctuation resulting in drought and flood in various intensities. A major climatic driver of the interannual variation of the Amazon rainfall is El Niño/Southern Oscillation. Also, the Sea Surface Temperature over the Atlantic Ocean is identified as an important climatic driver on the Amazon water cycle. Previously, observational datasets were used to support the Atlantic influence on Amazon rainfall. Here, it is found that multiple global climate models do reproduce the Atlantic-Amazon link robustly. However, there exist differences in rainfall response, which primarily depends on the climatological rainfall amount.