The Guiana Shield, at the northern boundary of Amazonia, lies at the start of two atmospheric rivers that carry moisture across South America. The area is currently under threat from mining, logging and farming. Yet, according to Isabella Bovolo and colleagues, deforesting less than a third of the Guiana Shield could significantly change the water cycle across South America and bring large variations in temperature and precipitation to areas 4000 km away.
The researchers’ climate simulations suggest that following such deforestation, locally, precipitation and runoff would more than double in lowland forests, whilst mean annual temperatures would increase by up to 2.2 °C in savannahs.
Find out more in this video abstract Isabella Bovolo et al
Video courtesy CC-BY 3.0, C Isabella Bovolo et al 2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 074029 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aacf60
