Future Projections of Low-Level Atmospheric Circulation Patterns Over South Tropical South America: Impacts on Precipitation and Amazon Dry Season Length

The last few decades have shown evidence of a lengthening dry season in southern Amazonia, which is associated with a delay in the onset of the South American Monsoon System (SAMS). Using a pattern recognition framework of atmospheric circulation patterns (CPs), previous studies have identified specific atmospheric situations related to the onset of the SAMS. Here, we analyze the future changes in the CPs that largely define the main hydro-climatological states of Tropical South America. We evaluated the CP changes that occurred between two periods: historical (1970-2000) and future (2040-2070), using six General Circulation Models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. Future GCM projections show significant spatio-temporal changes in the CPs associated with the dry season in southern Amazonia during the mid-21st century. These changes are related to both a late onset of the SAMS and an early demise of the SAMS. Particularly, the CP methodology allowed for a better understanding of the behavior of the southern Amazon dry season under future conditions, showing an increase in the frequency of the CPs typically observed during the dry season. The occurrence of dry days in the Amazon basin during the austral winter of the mid-21st century increases by 19.4% on average, with respect to the historical period. This methodology also identified a future increase in the frequency of dry CPs, both at the beginning of the dry-to-wet transition period (8%) and at the end of the wet-to-dry transition season (11%).

Automated summary

In recent decades, the dry season in southern Amazonia has been lengthening, associated with a delay in the onset of the South American Monsoon System (SAMS). This study uses atmospheric circulation patterns (CPs) to analyze future changes in the CPs that define the hydro-climatological states of Tropical South America. The projections show significant spatio-temporal changes in the CPs associated with the dry season in southern Amazonia during the mid-21st century.