Record-breaking warming and extreme drought in the Amazon rainforest during the course of El Niño 2015–2016

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the main driver of interannual climate extremes in Amazonia and other tropical regions. The current 2015/2016 EN event was expected to be as strong as the EN of the century in 1997/98, with extreme heat and drought over most of Amazonian rainforests. Here we show that this protracted EN event, combined with the regional warming trend, was associated with unprecedented warming and a larger extent of extreme drought in Amazonia compared to the earlier strong EN events in 1982/83 and 1997/98. Typical EN-like drought conditions were observed only in eastern Amazonia, whilst in western Amazonia there was an unusual wetting. We attribute this wet-dry dipole to the location…

• MD
  Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

  Award: ESP2014-52955-R
• CN
  Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica

  Award: FONDAP/1511000
• FD
  Fondo de Financiamiento de Centros de Investigación en Áreas Prioritarias