Variability of continental water storage and its relationship to extreme hydrological events in the Amazon basin

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluated the variability of total continental water storage derived from estimates of balance water using satellite data in association with hydro-meteorological data. The occurrence of extreme hydrological events such as drought and flood in the Amazon basin was related to the variability of total storage of continental water. Both estimation methods (PER- Precipitation, Evapotranspiration and Runoff and GRACE) show a strong decrease in water storage during the 2005 drought and a strong recovery during the 2009 flood. The results show that there is strong relationship between the occurrences of extreme hydrological events and water storage in the Amazon. Local and deep measurements of continental water storage can provide more precise indications of the dynamics of the hydrological system and its response to climate variability.

Keywords

• Storage continental water, hydrological extremes, Inertia hydrological