The changing Amazon Basin ecosystem and its interaction with the Earth System

The Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment (LBA) have studied in the last 20 years the strong coupling between the Amazonian forest and the climate in the region. It was observed a tightly coupled system where the forest interacts strongly with the atmosphere. The high rate of deforestation in the last 30 years and its social and economical drivers have changed significantly parts of the region. Deforestation was reduced significantly from 27,000 Km² per year in 2004 to 6,000 Km² in 2011, with the drivers associated with this strong reduction being difficult to attribute. It was observed a strong relationship between carbon uptake by the forest and aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The interactions between aerosols clouds and precipitation is a very complex system, with observed changes in precipitation in deforested areas that are difficult to attribute to changes in land use.

Paulo Artaxo

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