Abstract
Extremely-low discharge events of the Paranaíba River basin during the austral summer season (December–February, DJF), are found to be associated with the Pacific sea surface temperature anomalies resembling the recently identified El Niño Modoki phenomenon. Extreme discharge events are identified based on their persistent flow for 7 days and more after taking retention time into consideration. Ninety percent of the extremely low discharge events during peak streamflow seasons of DJF, are found to occur during the El Niño Modoki years. A diagnostics study of atmospheric anomalies has shown a clear connection between the modified Walker circulation, associated with the El Niño Modoki, and the precipitation anomalies over the Paranaíba River basin. The climate variations have direct relationship with the rainfall. Streamflow variations are considered as the surrogates to rainfalls. Thus, El Niño Modoki phase is important component to understand and predict the streamflow variations in the Paranaíba River basin.
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Acknowledgments
NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, ANA (Brazilian National Agency of Water Resources) and OISST analysis version 2 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer-Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AVHRR-AMSR) products from National Climate Data Center (NCDC) are provided by NOAA (available online), USA.
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Sahu, N., Behera, S.K., Ratnam, J.V. et al. El Niño Modoki connection to extremely-low streamflow of the Paranaíba River in Brazil. Clim Dyn 42, 1509–1516 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-2006-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-2006-3