Woods Hole Research Center

Agricultural expansion in the Amazon basin affects both local and continental hydrological cycles. Observational and modeling studies currently suggest that deforestation leads to large changes in the energy and water balance at small to large scales. These local changes may affect the climate of the much larger Amazon basin because they increase runoff to the ocean and decrease rainfall over land.

The map above highlights the Xingu watershed in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The red area (lower right) designates Fazenda Tanguro., base camp for our data collection Click on image for larger version.

This project explores that key issue through an instrument installation and data collection campaign in the Xingu watershed in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Studies will simultaneously measure stream water and climate data at high temporal resolution in 24 watersheds in evergreen forest, cerrado, pasture, and soy landscapes.

Fieldwork on this project was begun in early 2011. Analysis of the data will provide a quantitative measure of the consequences of deforestation on the local water and energy balance in each of the landscapes. The field data will be integrated with an existing dynamic vegetation model to improve the representation of land surface processes and to simulate the consequences of deforestation on the regional water and energy balance. Finally, application of the land surface model coupled to global and regional climate models will provide a multi-scale analysis of the impacts of historical and future agricultural expansion on the energy and water cycles of the Amazon.

The project offers unique opportunities to convey information on the effects of land use change to local farmers, policymakers and the international public.

• Our scientific results will be presented to global agricultural organizations interested in mitigating environmental impacts.
• The results from this project will be used to develop stream health metrics that will be applied on a network of properties covering more than 1.8 million ha, in Brazil.
• These results will be presented at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations where growing attention is being given to benefits of avoided deforestation.

A stream surrounded by forest (on left) maintains better water quality than a stream impacted by deforestation, agriculture, and livestock populations (on right).

This work will also offer education initiatives at several levels. It will provide direct financial and/or technical support to doctoral students in the United States and Brazil as well as master’s and undergraduate students from the State University of Mato Grosso at Nova Xavantina.

It will also support and expand an influential secondary educational outreach program by:

• Developing water resource modules, including a research video, for adult and middle school educational programs in Mato Grosso and Falmouth, Massachusetts
• Strengthening ties between middle schools in Mato Grosso and Falmouth, Massachusetts
• Sending two science journalists each year to Brazil for hands-on training

This project is a collaborative effort between The Woods Hole Research Center (led by Michael Coe), Marine Biological Laboratory (Chris Neill), the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Paulo Brando) and the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil (Marcos Costa).

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation Multi-Scale Modeling (MSM) Collaborative Research Project.