The extreme 2014 flood in south-western Amazon basin: the role of tropical-subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient

Abstract

Unprecedented wet conditions are reported in the 2014 summer (December–March) in Southwestern Amazon, with rainfall about 100% above normal. Discharge in the Madeira River (the main southern Amazon tributary) has been 74% higher than normal (58 000 m³ s⁻¹) at Porto Velho and 380% (25 000 m³ s⁻¹) at Rurrenabaque, at the exit of the Andes in summer, while levels of the Rio Negro at Manaus were 29.47 m in June 2014, corresponding to the fifth highest record during the 113 years record of the Rio Negro. While previous floods in Amazonia have been related to La Niña and/or warmer than normal tropical South Atlantic, the 2014 rainfall and flood anomalies are associated with warm condition in the western Pacific-Indian Ocean and with an exceptionally warm Subtropical South Atlantic. Our results suggest that the tropical and subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient is a main driver for moisture transport from the Atlantic toward southwestern Amazon, and this became exceptionally intense during summer of 2014.