Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The South Atlantic Ocean as a moisture source region and its relation with precipitation in South America

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We explore the South Atlantic as a moisture source for South America and its relationship with the precipitation variability in southeastern South America (SESA) during the 1982–2015 period. Based on diagnostic calculation with a Semi-Lagrangian analytical model, three regions of the South Atlantic acting as moisture sources for South America were studied: the Tropical Atlantic (15° N–5° S), Subtropical Atlantic (30° S–5° S), and Southwestern Atlantic (21° S–50° S; 30° W to the further west). The Tropical and Subtropical Atlantic are important sources of moisture for the Amazon, and occasionally for SESA. The Southwestern Atlantic contributes mainly locally, although in summer it also has a role in increasing precipitation over Uruguay and southern Brazil. Approximately 17% of the observed precipitation over the La Plata basin comes from the three regions identified as moisture source in the South Atlantic. Sea surface temperature variability is related to the moisture contribution from the South Atlantic to the continent. In summer, a significant positive correlation between the sea surface temperature leading-mode and the precipitation contribution from the Tropical Atlantic and La Plata Basin is found. A significant negative correlation between the sea surface temperature leading-mode and contribution in terms of precipitation from the Southwest Atlantic was found, as warm anomalies are associated with an anomalous cyclonic circulation over the Southwest Atlantic that favors moisture transport to SESA. Finally, the study of individual precipitation events identified contributions from the Subtropical and Southwest Atlantic to particular daily precipitation events in SESA. Climatological contributions from the Southwestern Atlantic are low, however, in events such as these, their contribution can increase up to 40% on the synoptic scale.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets used during the current study are available online. ERA-Interim data is provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, from their Web site at https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/interim-full-daily/levtype=sfc. Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), version 2, at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/global-precipitation-climatology-project-gpcp-monthly/access/. CPC-Unified at https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/cpc-unified-gauge-based-analysis-global-daily-precipitation/. And Optimum Interpolation SST Analysis Version 2 (OISSTv2) at https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.noaa.oisst.v2.html.

References

  • Adler RF, Huffman GJ, Chang A, Ferraro R, Xie PP, Janowiak J, Nelkin E (2003) The version-2 global precipitation climatology project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979–present). J Hydrometeorol 4(6):1147–1167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barros V, González M, Liebmann B, Camilloni I (2000) Influence of the South Atlantic convergence zone and South Atlantic sea surface temperature on interannual summer rainfall in Southeastern South America. Theor Appl Climatol 67:123–133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s007040070002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Björnsson H, Venegas SA (1997) A manual for EOF and SVD analyses of climatic data. CCGCR Rep 97(1):112–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Blázquez J, Solman SA (2017) Interannual variability of the frontal activity in the Southern Hemisphere: relationship with atmospheric circulation and precipitation over southern South America. Clim Dyn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-016-3223-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bombardi RJ, Carvalho LM, Jones C, Reboita MS (2014) Precipitation over eastern South America and the south Atlantic sea surface temperature during neutral ENSO periods. Clim Dyn 42(5–6):1553–1568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker KL, Entekhabi D, Eagleson P (1993) Estimation of continental precipitation recycling. J Clim 6(6):1077–1089

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dee DP, Uppala SM, Simmons AJ, Berrisford P, Poli P, Kobayashi S, Vitart F (2011) The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Q J R Meteorol Soc 137(656):553–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz AF, Studzinski CD, Mechoso CR (1998) Relationships between precipitation anomalies in Uruguay and southern Brazil and sea surface temperature in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. J Clim 11(2):251–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez F, Kumar P, Liang XZ, Ting M (2006) Impact of atmospheric moisture storage on precipitation recycling. J Clim 19(8):1513–1530

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez F, Hu H, Martinez JA (2020) Two-layer dynamic recycling model (2L-DRM): learning from moisture tracking models of different complexity. J Hydrometeorol 21(1):3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drumond A, Nieto R, Gimeno L, Ambrizzi T (2008) A Lagrangian identification of major sources of moisture over Central Brazil and La Plata Basin. J Geophys Res 113:D14128. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drumond A, Marengo J, Ambrizzi T, Nieto R, Moreira L, Gimeno L (2014) The role of the amazon basin moisture in the atmospheric branch of the hydrological cycle: a Lagrangian analysis. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 18(7):2577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durán-Quesada A, Reboita M, Gimeno L (2012) Precipitation in Tropical America and the associated sources of moisture: a short review. Hydrol Sci J 57(4):612–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RD, Vuille M, Compagnucci R, Marengo J (2009) Present-day South American climate. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 281(3–4):180–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gimeno L, Stohl A, Trigo RM, Dominguez F, Yoshimura K, Yu L, Drumond A, Durán-Quesada AM, Nieto R (2012) Oceanic and terrestrial sources of continental precipitation. Rev Geophys 50(4):RG4003. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012RG000389

  • Gimeno L, Nieto R, Drumond A, Castillo R, Trigo R (2013) Influence of the intensification of the major oceanic moisture sources on continental precipitation. Geophys Res Lett 40(7):1443–1450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goßling H, Reick CH (2013) On the "well-mixed” assumption and numerical 2-d tracing of atmospheric moisture. Atmos Chem Phys 13:5567–5585

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huffman GJ, Adler RF, Bolvin DT, Gu G (2009) Improving the global precipitation record: GPCP version 2.1. Geophys Res Lett 36:L17808. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL040000

  • Insua-Costa D, Miguez-Macho G (2018) A new moisture tagging capability in the weather research and forecasting model: formulation, validation and application to the 2014 great lake-effect snowstorm. Earth Syst Dyn 9(1):167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kodama Y (1992) Large-scale common features of subtropical precipitation zones (the baiu frontal zone, the spcz, and the sacz) part i: characteristics of subtropical frontal zones. J Meteorol Soc Jpn Ser II 70(4):813–836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leyba IM, Saraceno M, Solman SA (2017) Air–sea heat fluxes associated to mesoscale eddies in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean and their dependence on different regional conditions. Clim Dyn 49(7):2491–2501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leyba IM, Solman SA, Saraceno M (2019) Trends in sea surface temperature and air-sea heat fluxes over the south Atlantic Ocean. Clim Dyn 53(7–8):4141–4153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marengo JA, Soares WR, Saulo C, Nicolini M (2004) Climatology of the low-level jet east of the andes as derived from the NCEP–NCAR reanalyses: characteristics and temporal variability. J Clim 17(12):2261–2280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marengo JA, JrCM S, Thonicke K, Burton C, Halladay K, Betts RA, Soares WR (2018) Changes in climate and land use over the Amazon region: current and future variability and trends. Front Earth Sci 6:228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez JA, Dominguez F (2014) Sources of atmospheric moisture for the La Plata River basin. J Clim 27(17):6737–6753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martín-Gómez V, Hernández-Garcia E, Barreiro M, López C (2016) Interdecadal variability of southeastern South America rainfall and moisture sources during the austral summertime. J Clim 29(18):6751–6763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nnamchi HC, Li J, Anyadike RNC (2011) Does a dipole mode really exist in the South Atlantic Ocean? J Geophys Res Atmos 116:D15104. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015579

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palharini R, Vila D, Rodrigues D, Pareja Quispe D, Palharini R, Siqueira R, Afonso J (2020) Assessment of the extreme precipitation by satellite estimates over South America. Remote Sens 12:2085

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pampuch LA, Drumond A, Gimeno L, Ambrizzi T (2016) Anomalous patterns of SST and moisture sources in the South Atlantic Ocean associated with dry events in southeastern Brazil. Int J Climatol 36(15):4913–4928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peixoto JP, Oort AH (1992) Physics of climate. American Institute of Physics, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Preisendorfer RW, Mobley CD (1988) Principal component analysis in meteorology and oceanography. Developments in atmospheric science, vol 17, p 425

  • Rayana Santos AP, Vila DA, Tôrres Rodrigues D, Pareja Quispe D, Cassineli Palharini R, Almeida de Siqueira R, de Sousa Afonso JM (2020) Assessment of the extreme precipitation by satellite estimates over South America. Remote Sens 12:2085

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reboita MS, Ambrizzi T, Crespo NM, Dutra LMM, Ferreira GWS, Rehbein A, Drumond A, da Rocha RP, de Souza CA (2021) Impacts of teleconnection patterns on South America climate. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1504(1):116–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds RW, Smith TM, Liu C, Chelton DB, Casey KS, Schlax MG (2007) Daily high-resolution-blended analyses for sea surface temperature. J Clim 20(22):5473–5496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salio P, Hobouchian MP, Skabar YG, Vila D (2015) Evaluation of high-resolution satellite precipitation estimates over southern South America using a dense rain gauge network. Atmos Res 163:146–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satyamurty P, Da Costa CPW, Manzi AO, Candido LA (2013) A quick look at the 2012 record flood in the amazon basin. Geophys Res Lett 40(7):1396–1401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stohl A, James P (2004) A Lagrangian analysis of the atmospheric branch of the global water cycle. Part i: method description, validation, and demonstration for the august 2002 flooding in central Europe. J Hydrometeorol 5(4):656–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stohl A, James P (2005) A Lagrangian analysis of the atmospheric branch of the global water cycle. Part ii: moisture transports between earth’s ocean basins and river catchments. J Hydrometeorol 6(6):961–984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Ent RJ, Savenije HH (2013) Oceanic sources of continental precipitation and the correlation with sea surface temperature. Water Resour Res 49(7):3993–4004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vera C, Higgins W, Amador J, Ambrizzi T, Garreaud R, Gochis D, Zhang C (2006) Toward a unified view of the American monsoon systems. J Clim 19(20):4977–5000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilks DS (2006) Statistical methods in the atmospheric sciences. Int Geophys Ser 91:131–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie P, Chen M, Shi W (2010) CPC unified gauge-based analysis of global daily precipitation. In: Preprints, 24th conference on hydrology, (vol 2). Amer. Meteor. Soc., Atlanta

  • Yang Z, Dominguez F (2019) Investigating land surface effects on the moisture transport over South America with a moisture tagging model. J Clim 32(19):6627–6644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zemp DC, Schleussner CF, Barbosa HMJ, Van der Ent RJ, Donges JF, Heinke J, Rammig A (2014) On the importance of cascading moisture recycling in South America. Atmos Chem Phys 14(23):13337–13359

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study has been supported UBACYT2018 Grant 20020170100117BA 30 and FONCYT Grant PICT2018-02496. This study is a contribution to EUMETSAT/CNES OSTST SABIO project and PICT 2018-2433. Dominguez is funded by NSF award 1852709. J. A, Martinez was partially supported by MINCIENCIAS through the Grant 80740-490-2020, as part of the Program 1115-852-70,719. We are grateful to the reviewers that helped improve the original version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study has been supported UBACYT2018 Grant 20020170100117BA 30 and FONCYT Grant PICT2018-02496. This study is a contribution to EUMETSAT/CNES OSTST SABIO project and PICT 2018-2433. Dominguez is funded by NSF award 1852709. J. A, Martinez was partially supported by MINCIENCIAS through the Grant 80740-490-2020, as part of the Program 1115-852-70,719.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Inés M. Leyba, Silvina A. Solman & Martín Saraceno

  2. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera (CIMA), CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Inés M. Leyba, Silvina A. Solman & Martín Saraceno

  3. Instituto Franco-Argentino para el Estudio del Clima y sus Impactos (IRL 3351-IFAECI), CNRS-IRD-CONICET-UBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Inés M. Leyba, Silvina A. Solman & Martín Saraceno

  4. Escuela Ambiental, Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia

    J. Alejandro Martinez

  5. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Francina Dominguez

Authors
  1. Inés M. Leyba
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Silvina A. Solman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Martín Saraceno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. J. Alejandro Martinez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Francina Dominguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The study conception, design, material preparation, data collection, implementation of the methodology and analysis were performed by IL, SS, and MS. JAM and FD designed the model and the computational framework. The first draft of the manuscript was written by IL and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inés M. Leyba.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest or competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Leyba, I.M., Solman, S.A., Saraceno, M. et al. The South Atlantic Ocean as a moisture source region and its relation with precipitation in South America. Clim Dyn 61, 1741–1756 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06653-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06653-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation