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Evapotranspiration of deforested areas in central and southwestern Amazonia

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Abstract

Considering the high rates of evapotranspiration of Amazonian forests, understanding the impacts of deforestation on water loss rates is important for assessing those impacts on a regional and global scale. This paper quantifies evapotranspiration rates in two different pasture sites in Amazonia and evaluates the differences between the sites. In both places, measured evapotranspiration varies seasonally, decreasing during the dry season. The decrease is higher at the southwestern Amazonia site, while at the central Amazonia site, the decrease is less pronounced. During the dry season, average values of evapotranspiration are around 2.2 ± 0.6 mm day−1 in central Amazonia and 2.4 ± 0.6 mm day−1 in southwestern Amazonia, while during the wet season, those values are 2.1 ± 0.6 mm day−1 in central Amazonia and 3.5 ± 0.8 mm day−1 in southwestern Amazonia. On an annual basis, the pasture in southwestern Amazonia has higher evapotranspiration than in central Amazonia. We conclude that the main reason for this difference is the lower available energy in the wet season at the central Amazonian site, combined with a lower leaf area index at this site during the whole year. Still, the evapotranspiration is significantly controlled by the vegetation, which is well coupled with the local moisture conditions in the dry season.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the help of MSc. Flavio de Carvalho Magina and Antonio Huxley do Nascimento with the instrumentation and operation of Colosso site and MSc. Fabrício Berton Zanchi for operation of FNS site. We thank the institutions that hosted the first author during the field work and analysis of the data: Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands and INPE and INPA, Brazil. Thanks also to the Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia for logistical support during the field work and data collection at FNS. The field work received funding from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) and also from The Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO), which also financed R.C.S. von Randow’s Ph.D. research.

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Author notes

  1. Javier Tomasella

    Present address: Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alerta de Desastres Naturais (CEMADEN), Rodovia Presidente Dutra Km 39, CEP 12630-000, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth System Science and Climate Change (ESS-CC), Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Rita C. S. von Randow, Ronald W. A. Hutjes & Bart Kruijt

  2. Center for Earth System Science (CCST), National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Rodovia Presidente Dutra Km 40, CEP 12630-000, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil

    Rita C. S. von Randow, Celso von Randow & Javier Tomasella

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  1. Rita C. S. von Randow
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Correspondence to Rita C. S. von Randow.

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Table 5 Instruments installed at FNS and CO sites
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von Randow, R.C.S., von Randow, C., Hutjes, R.W.A. et al. Evapotranspiration of deforested areas in central and southwestern Amazonia. Theor Appl Climatol 109, 205–220 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0570-1

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