[1] The surface water budget of the Amazon River basin derived from the ERA40 reanalysis is evaluated by comparing it with observed precipitation (P), streamflow/runoff (R), and evapotranspiration (ET) data sets for the period of 1980–2002. The rainfall is averaged over 90% of the Amazon River basin, corresponding to the catchments of the Óbidos and Altamira streamflow gauges. The annual rainfa...

The resurrection plant Reaumuria soongorica is widespread across Asia, southern Europe, and North Africa and is considered to be a constructive keystone species in desert ecosystems, but the impacts of climate change on this species in desert ecosystems are unclear. Here, the morphological responses of R. soongorica to changes in rainfall quantity (30% reduction and 30% increase in rainfall qua...

The seasonality of litter insect abundance and its relationship with rainfall was analyzed in a wet evergreen forest on the windward side of south Western Ghats. Monthly litter samples were collected using Berlese funnels during 4 seasons of a year: southwest monsoon season June-August), northeast monsoon season (September-November), summer (March -May) and pre-summer season (December-February)...

Predicted climate changes in the US Central Plains include altered precipitation regimes with increased occurrence of growing season droughts and higher frequencies of extreme rainfall events. Changes in the amounts and timing of rainfall events will likely affect ecosystem processes, including those that control C cycling and storage. Soil carbon dioxide (CO2) flux is an important component of...

Using 15-yr data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis (ERA15), the authors found that rapid southeastward expansion of the rainy area from the western Amazon to southeastern Brazil is a result of midlatitude cold air intrusions. During austral spring, as the large-scale thermodynamic structure over Amazonia becomes destabilized, the incursions of extratropical...

[1] The mean diurnal cycle of precipitation, near-surface thermodynamics and surface fluxes from short-term forecasts of the ECMWF model are compared with corresponding observations from the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazonia wet season campaign in 1999 in Rondônia. Precipitation starts about 2 hours after sunrise in the model, several hours earlier than observed, becau...

Although urban wet weather discharges may have elevated concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria impacting water quality at swimming beaches, not all of these bacteria may arise from human sources. In this study, the contribution of non-human fecal indicator bacteria was quantified by sampling coastal reference beaches in southern California. Samples were collected at beaches near stormwater ...

During the last 100 years the Ethiopian upper Blue Nile Basin (BNB) has undergone major changes in land use, and is now potentially facing changes in climate. Rainfall over BNB supplies over two-thirds of the water to the Nile and supports a large local population living mainly on subsistence agriculture. Regional food security is sensitive to both the amount and timing of rain and is already a...

Seasonality drives ecological processes through networks of forcings, and the resultant complexity requires creative approaches for modeling to be successful. Recently ecologists and climatologists have developed sophisticated methods for fully describing seasons. However, to date the relationships among the variables produced by these methods have not been analyzed as networks, but rather with...

The cleaning effect of heavy rain (the rainfall reaches 5 mm every day) on surface contamination of insulators is more effective than dew, fog, mist, and other light rain conditions which can initiate leakage currents and increase the likelihood of flashover. It is well understood that heavy rain can wash away contamination from the surface of high voltage (HV) insulators and thereby reduce the...