@Article{NobreSellShuk:1991:AmDeRe,
               author = "Nobre, Carlos Afonso and Sellers, Piers J. and Shukla, Jagadish",
          affiliation = "Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais,(INPE/CPTEC) and Center 
                         of Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions-COLA, University of Maryland 
                         and Center of Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions-COLA, University 
                         of Maryland",
                title = "Amazonian deforestation and regional climate change",
              journal = "Journal of Climate",
                 year = "1991",
               volume = "4",
               number = "10",
                pages = "957--988",
                month = "Oct.",
             keywords = "Amazonian, deforestation,climate.",
             abstract = "Large-scale conversion of tropical forests into pastures or annual 
                         crops could lead to changes in the climate. We have used a coupled 
                         numerical model of the global atmosphere and biosphere (Center for 
                         Ocean-Land-Atmosphere GCM) to assess the effects of Amazonian 
                         deforestation on the regional and global climate. We found that 
                         when the Amazonian tropical forests were replaced by degraded 
                         grass (pasture) in the model, there was a significant increase in 
                         the mean surface temperature (about 2.5-degrees-C) and a decrease 
                         in the annual evapotranspiration (30% reduction), precipitation 
                         (25% reduction), and runoff (20% reduction) in the region. The 
                         differences between the two simulations were greatest during the 
                         dry season. The deforested case was associated with larger diurnal 
                         fluctuations of surface temperature and vapor pressure deficit; 
                         such effects have been observed in existing deforested areas in 
                         Amazonia. The calculated reduction in precipitation was larger 
                         than the calculated decrease in evapotranspiration, indicating a 
                         reduction in the regional moisture convergence. There was also an 
                         increase in the length of the dry season in the southern half of 
                         the Amazon Basin, which could have serious implications for the 
                         reestablishment of the tropical forests following massive 
                         deforestation since rainforests only occur where the dry season is 
                         very short or nonexistent. An empirical bioclimatic scheme based 
                         on an integrated soil moisture stress index was used to derive the 
                         movement of the savanna-forest boundary in response to the 
                         simulated climate change produced by large-scale deforestation. 
                         The implications of possible climate changes in adjacent regions 
                         are discussed.",
           copyholder = "SID/SCD",
                 issn = "0894-8755",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "amazonian_deforestation.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "04 maio 2024"
}