The agricultural expansion in South America's Dry Chaco: regional hydroclimate effects

Bracalenti, María Agostina; Müller, Omar V.; Lovino, Miguel A.; Berbery, Ernesto Hugo

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3281-2024

Articles | Volume 28, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3281-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3281-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 28, issue 14

Research article

|

25 Jul 2024

Research article |

| 25 Jul 2024

The agricultural expansion in South America's Dry Chaco: regional hydroclimate effects

María Agostina Bracalenti, Omar V. Müller, Miguel A. Lovino, and Ernesto Hugo Berbery

Data sets

CRU TS4.03: Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) version 4.03 of high-resolution gridded data of month-by-month variation in climate (Jan. 1901–Dec. 2018) I. C. Harris and P. D. Jones https://doi.org/10.5285/10d3e3640f004c578403419aac167d82

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Soil Moisture Operational Product System (SMOPS) NOAA Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/smops

MCD12C1 MODIS-/Terra+Aqua Land Cover Type Yearly L3 Global 0.05Deg CMG V006 D. Sulla-Menashe and M. A. Friedl https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD12C1.006

CPC Global Precipitation P. Xie and P. A. Arkin https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/cpc-unified-gauge-based-analysis-global-daily-precipitation

Short summary

The Gran Chaco is a large, dry forest in South America that has been heavily deforested, particularly in the dry Chaco subregion. This deforestation, mainly driven by the expansion of the agricultural frontier, has changed the land's characteristics, affecting the local and regional climate. The study reveals that deforestation has resulted in reduced precipitation, soil moisture, and runoff, and if intensive agriculture continues, it could make summers in this arid region even drier and hotter.