The impact of land cover and land use changes on the hydro-climate of the La Plata Basin (CRN 2094)

Project information

Executive summary Project investigators Students

Executive summary

The La Plata basin is key for the economic and social development of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. During the last decades, land use and cover have changed significantly as a result of ever expanding agriculture and forestry. Since the end of 2008, this project investigates the impacts of such changes on the regional hydroclimate of the La Plata Basin and their interaction with climate change.

Goals
Develop 25-year datasets that integrate all in-situ and remotely sensed observations on land use and cover, and develop regional models to assess in which way and how much land use changes affect the hydroclimate of the La Plata basin

Investigate the role of land use and cover changes in the intensity and length of floods and droughts

Investigate potential changes in the hydrological characteristics of the Basin (soil moisture, infiltration, and runoff)

First Results
The project is using 1980-2005 datasets to assess the impact of land use and cover changes on the hydro-climate of the La Plata Basin, and the physical mechanisms by which these impacts take effect.

These datasets are being used for a regional land surface re-analysis in a Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) modeling system run on continental scale with a nested grid over the La Plata Basin.

WRF simulations are being prepared for different land cover scenarios, from no agriculture to intensive arable agriculture.

The project defined a new approach to investigate changes in land cover, the Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs) and investigated their year-to-year evolution. EFTs replace the current time-fixed land cover types and will be tested in regional models.

Project investigators

Ernesto Hugo Berbery – berbery_AT_@atmos.umd.edu

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina

Co-Investigators
Luis Gustavo de Goncalves (NASA and UMD, US), Dirceu Herdies (CPTEC, Brazil), Esteban Jobbágy (Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Argentina), Eugenia Kalnay (University of Maryland, US), Dennis Lettenmaier (University of Washington, US), Mario Nuñez (CIMA-CONICET/UBA), Argentina), Jose Paruelo (UBA, Argentina), Pedro Silva Dias (USP, Brazil)

Updated 03/2010

Project Website

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Students

Alejandro Casteller, IANIGLA-CONICET, Argentina.

Alicia Eisenkolbl, Universidad Catolica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Paraguay.

Alicia Pavetti, Universidad Catolica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Paraguay.

Ana Murgida, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Anna Sorensson, Universidad de Buenos Aires, International.

Bianca Maske, Master, INPE, Brazil.

Bruna Barbosa Silveira, Master, INPE, Brazil.

Carlos Bastarz, INPE, Brazil.

Carlos Hugo Zotelo, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Claudia Adams, Brazil.

Constanza Riera, Argentina.

Deise Ely, PHD, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.

Diego Souza, PHD, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.

Domingo Alcaraz, University of Virginia, Spain.

Fabio Diniz, Master, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.

Guilherme Goergen, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Helena Barbieri, Master, INPE, Brazil.

Joao Gerd Z. de Mathos, CPTEC, Brazil.

Leonardo Ribeiro Paraiso, Undergraduate, INPE, Brazil.

Marcos Andrade, Post PHD, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Brazil.

Marcos Teixeira, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Uruguay.

Mariana Gasparoto, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Mariana Pallata, Master, INPE, Brazil.

Marilia do Nascimento, INPE, Brazil.

Mario Leal de Quadro, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.

Martin Becher, Universität Regensburg, Argentina.

Omar Muller, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina.

Roberto Takahashi, Universidad Catolica Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, Paraguay.