Anais do XIX Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto

As drought and other extreme weather events are likely to become more common in the future, it is of paramount importance to understand how various ecosystems are impacted and respond to such events. In particular, it is necessary to be able to understand potential changes in the water and carbon cycles. Here, we investigate the impacts of the 2015 drought on the state of Mato Grosso using the NOAH-MP land surface model. Specifically, we are interested in the impacts of the drought on future recovery of the drought stricken regions. We utilized a three year simulation (2015-2017) to examine how variation in drought magnitude impacts future carbon and water cycling across the state. Emphasis was placed on the alteration of the latent heat (LE) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in response to changes in leaf area index (LAI) and surface temperature (Tr). We found reductions in both LAI and Tr that were highly correlated with the reductions in LE and NEE. This was particularly noticed in the reduction of NEE in savanna regions which resulted in this ecosystem becoming a slight source of carbon to the atmosphere in the year following the drought. This highlights the importance of understanding the differential responses of ecosystems to extreme events for assessing the future of carbon and water cycling in a changing climate.