title: The 2010 Amazon drought.
abstract: In 2010, dry-season rainfall was low across Amazonia, with apparent similarities to the major 2005 drought. We analyzed a decade of satellite-derived rainfall data to compare both events. Standardized anomalies of dry-season rainfall showed that 57% of Amazonia had low rainfall in 2010 as compared with 37% in 2005 (≤-1 standard deviation from long-term mean). By using relationships between drying and forest biomass responses measured for 2005, we predict the impact of the 2010 drought as 2.2 × 10(15) grams of carbon [95% confidence intervals (CIs) are 1.2 and 3.4], largely longer-term committed emissions from drought-induced tree deaths, compared with 1.6 × 10(15) grams of carbon (CIs 0.8 and 2.6) for the 2005 event.
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. s.l.lewis@leeds.ac.uk
authors.forename: Simon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Paulo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Brando
authors.forename: Oliver L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Geertje M F
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: van der Heijden
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nepstad
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D001938:Brazil; D002244:Carbon; D055864:Droughts; D017753:Ecosystem; D012621:Seasons; D013020:South America; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon