@InProceedings{MarengoLiAlGeRuTr:2022:CaEnIm,
               author = "Marengo, Jos{\'e} Ant{\^o}nio and Libonati, Renata and Alves, 
                         Lincoln Muniz and Geirinhas, Jo{\~a}o and Russo, Ana and Trigo, 
                         Ricardo M.",
          affiliation = "{Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas de Desastres Naturais 
                         (CEMADEN)} and {Instituto de Geoci{\^e}ncias} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Universidade de 
                         Lisboa} and {Universidade de Lisboa} and {Universidade de 
                         Lisboa}",
                title = "Compound Drought–Heat Extremes in the Pantanal Region during 
                         2019–21: Causes and Environmental Impacts",
                 year = "2022",
         organization = "American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, 102.",
            publisher = "AMS",
             abstract = "The Pantanal region in South America is one of the worlds largest 
                         wetlands. Since 2019, the Pantanal has suffered a prolonged 
                         drought that has spelled disaster for the region, and subsequent 
                         fires have engulfed hundreds of thousands of hectares, and this 
                         situation has worsened in 2021. The lack of rainfall which 
                         affected the region during the summers of 2019, 2020 and 2021 was 
                         caused by a dual effect, namely I) the reduced transport of warm 
                         and humid summer air from Amazonia into the Pantanal; and II) the 
                         predominance of warmer and drier air masses from subtropical 
                         latitudes, which contributed to a scarcity of summer rainfall at 
                         the peak of the monsoon season. This led to prolonged extreme 
                         drought conditions across the region which had severe impacts on 
                         the hydrology of the Pantanal. Hydrometric levels fell 
                         significantly in 2020 all along the Paraguay River and have not 
                         yet recovered. In addition, three intense heat waves struck the 
                         region in spring 2020 resulting in record-breaking daily maximum 
                         temperatures in several locations in central South America. 
                         Several localities reported maximum temperatures above 40 ºC for 
                         several days in a row, and temperature anomalies of 10 ºC. This 
                         sequence of heat waves aggravated the drought over the Pantanal 
                         and nearby regions (including Bolivia). Overall, this 
                         superposition of major heat waves and intense droughtncreased 
                         dramatically the number of large wildfires, with serious impacts 
                         on the ecosystems and socioeconomic activities in the area. Due to 
                         these compound dry and hot conditions, fires spread and affected 
                         natural biodiversity as well as the agribusiness and cattle 
                         ranching sectors. Based on satellite data from MODIS we conclude 
                         that the total burned area in Pantanal in 2020 has increased by 
                         376% when compared to the average of 2003-2019, and 43% of the 
                         area affected in 2020 had not been burnt previously in 2003-2019. 
                         The area affected by fire in the Brazilian Pantanal at the end of 
                         September 2021 (1,089,975ha) is very above the historical average 
                         (616,125 ha). However, differently from 2020, when fires reached 
                         the northern part of Pantanal, in 2021 the most critical region 
                         affected was the southern part. It should be stressed that, 
                         despite the level of dryness and high temperature observed 
                         recently, these last three years do not represent an outlier but 
                         more the culmination of highly significant trends towards a much 
                         drier and hotter climate. This vicious cycle of drought and 
                         extreme heath is consistent with what is expected under a warming 
                         climate, with higher risks of fire and water crises in the 
                         region.",
  conference-location = "Houston, Texas",
      conference-year = "23-27 jan. 2022",
             language = "en",
        urlaccessdate = "04 jun. 2024"
}