SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF PRECIPITATION RECYCLING IN THE AMAZON BASIN

Title	SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF PRECIPITATION RECYCLING IN THE AMAZON BASIN
Publication Type	Conference Paper
Year of Publication	1993
Authors	Eltahir, E. A. B. & Bras, R. L.
Editor	Bras RL
Conference Name	WORLD AT RISK : NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGEWORLD AT RISK : NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Conference Location	SYMP ON THE WORLD AT RISK : NATURAL HAZARDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE, MIT, CAMBRIDGE, MA, JAN 14-16, 1992
Date Published	1993
Publisher	US NATL SCI FDN, ENGN DIRECTORATE, NAT HAZARDS & MAN MADE HAZARD MITIGAT PR; OGRAM
ISBN Number	1-56396-066-4
Keywords	Applied; Physics, Multidisciplinary, Physics
Abstract	Precipitation recycling is the contribution of evaporation within a large region to precipitation in that same region. The rate of recycling is a diagnostic measure of the coupling of land surface hydrology and regional climate. Here we describe the spatial and seasonal variability of the precipitation recycling process over the Amazon basin. The results are based on data of evaporation and water vapor fluxes from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). We estimate that 25% of all the rain that falls in the Amazon basin is contributed by evaporation within the basin. The contribution of recycled water vapor increases westward and southward with significantly different spatial distributions in the different seasons.