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The droughts of 1997 and 2005 in Amazonia: floodplain hydrology and its potential ecological and human impacts

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Abstract

It is well known that most of the severe droughts in Amazonia, such as that of 1997, are El Niño-related. However, in 2005, the Amazon was affected by a severe drought that was not El Niño-related, as most of the rainfall anomalies that have happened in southwestern Amazonia are driven by sea surface temperature anomalies in the tropical North Atlantic. Earlier studies have analyzed both droughts in terms of their meteorological causes and impacts in terra firme (non-flooded) forests. This study compares the hydrological effects of both droughts on the Amazonian floodplain and discusses their potential ecological and human impacts based on an extensive literature review. The results revealed that the effects of the 2005 drought were exacerbated because rainfall was lower and evaporation rates were higher at the peak of the dry season compared to the 1997 drought. This induced a more acute depletion of water levels in floodplain lakes and was most likely associated with higher fish mortality rates. Based on the fact that the stem growth of many floodplain species is related to the length of the non-flooded period, it is hypothesized that the 1997 drought had more positive effects on floodplain forest growth than the 2005 drought. The fishing community of Silves in central Amazonia considered both droughts to have been equally severe. However, the 2005 drought was widely broadcasted by the press; therefore, the governmental mitigation efforts were more comprehensive. It is suggested that the availability of new communication technology and greater public awareness regarding environmental issues, combined with the new legal framework for assessing the severity of calamities in Brazil, are among the primary factors that explain the difference in societal response between the two droughts.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Evlyn Novo, who kindly provided the floodplain satellite mosaic and advice on image processing, and to the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia -INMET for providing the meteorological data used in this paper. Terezinha Monteiro provided helpful insights on the fisheries of the Amazon floodplain communities. This paper was developed within the projects “Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para as Mudanças Climáticas”, funded by CNPq-Brazil and Fapesp-Brazil, and “Rede Clima”, funded by MCT-Brazil.

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  1. Javier Tomasella

    Present address: Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais–CEMADEN, Rodovia Presidente Dutra Km 39, 12630-000, Cachoeira Paulista, SP, Brazil

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  1. Centro de Ciência do Sistema Terrestre, INPE. Rodovia Presidente Dutra Km 39, 12630-000, Cachoeira Paulista, SP, Brazil

    Javier Tomasella, Patrícia F. Pinho, Laura S. Borma, José A. Marengo, Carlos A. Nobre, Olga R. F. O. Bittencourt, Maria C. R. Prado, Daniel A. Rodriguez & Luz A. Cuartas

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  1. Javier Tomasella
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Tomasella, J., Pinho, P.F., Borma, L.S. et al. The droughts of 1997 and 2005 in Amazonia: floodplain hydrology and its potential ecological and human impacts. Climatic Change 116, 723–746 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0508-3

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