This project is no longer active.
South America encompasses a wide diversity of climate zones including expansive tropical rain forests, high altitude ice caps, parched deserts, and temperature mid-latitudes. Each of these climate zones will experience anthropogenic climate change in different ways with different impacts on society and the environment. This project aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which the climate is already changing, what the primary causes of observed changes are, and what are the key climate mechanisms driving climate change and variability over South America.
This project is a collaboration between Portland State University and the University of California Los Angeles. Support for this research is provided by the United States National Science Foundation, awards AGS-1547899 (PSU) and AGS-1547912 (UCLA).
Thaler, V., M, P. C. Loikith, L. Albertani-Pampuch-Bortolo, and C. R. Mechoso, 2021: A Multivariate Assessment of Climate Change Projections over
South American using CMIP5. Int. J. Climatol., http://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7072.
Detzer, J, P. C. Loikith, C. R. Mechoso, A. Barkhordarian, and H. Lee, 2020: Characterizing Monthly Temperature Variability States and Associated Meteorology Across Southern South America. Int. J. Climatol., 40, 492-508. RMetS Link, PDX Scholar Link
Barkhordarian, A., S. S. Saatchi, A. Behrangi, P. C. Loikith, and C. R. Mechoso, 2019: A recent systematic increase in vapor pressure deficit over tropical South America. Nature Scientific Reports, 9, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51857-8. PDX Scholar Link
Loikith, P. C., L. Albertani-Pampuch, E. Slinskey, J. Detzer, C. R. Mechoso, and A. Barkhordarian, 2019: A Climatology of Daily Synoptic Circulation Patterns and Associated Surface Meteorology over Southern South America. Clim. Dyn., 53, 5459-5480. Springer Link, PDX Scholar Link
Barkhordarian, A., H. von Storch, A. Behrangi, P. C. Loikith, C. R. Mechoso, and J. Detzer, 2018: Simulataneous Regional Detection of Land-Use Changes and Elevated GHG Levels: The Case of Spring Precipitation in Tropical South America. Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 6262-6271. AGU Link, PDX Scholar Link
Barkhordarian, A., H. von Storch, E. Zorita, P. C. Loikith, and C. R. Mechoso, 2017: Observed Warming Over Northern South American has an Anthropogenic Origin. Clim. Dyn., 51, 1901-1914. Springer Link, PDX Scholar Link
Loikith, P. C., J. Detzer, C. R. Mechoso, H. Lee, and A. Barkhordarian, 2017: The Influence of Recurrent Modes of Climate Variability on the Occurrence of Monthly Temperature Extremes over South America. J. Geophys. Res., 10.1002/2017JD027561. AGU Link, PDX Scholar Link
Soares, D. de B., H. Lee, P. C. Loikith, A. Barkhordarian, and C. R. Mechoso, 2017: Can Significant Trends be Detected in Surface Air Temperature and Precipitation over South America in Recent Decades? Int. J. Climatol., 37, 1483-1493. RMetS Link, PDX Scholar Link
"A Multivariate Assessment of Climate Change Projections Over South America Using CMIP5 Models," European Geophysical Union General Assembly Virtual Meeting, May 2020 (poster by Paul Loikith).
"Assessment of Projected Change in Temperature, Precipitation, and Related Variables over South America using CMIP5," American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, January 2020 (Poster presentation by Valerie Thaler).
"A Climatology of Daily Synoptic Circulation Patterns and Associated Surface Meteorology over Southern South America," European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April, 2019 (PICO presentation by Paul Loikith).
"Climate Model Projections of Future Changes of Precipitation and Temperature and Associated Driving Mechanisms," European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April, 2019 (PICO presentation by Valerie Thaler).
"A recent systematic increase in vapor pressure deficit over tropical South America," European Geosciences Union General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April, 2019 (PICO presentation by Armineh Barkhordarian).
"Characterizing Temperature Variability and Associated Large Scale Meteorological Patterns Across South America," American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, December, 2017 (talk by Judah Detzer).
"Detection of non-natural springtime precipitation change over northern South America," American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, December, 2017 (talk by Armineh Barkhordarian).
"Detection of anthropogenic climate change over tropical South America," Max Planck Institution for Meteorology, November, 2017 (talk by Armineh Barkhordarian).
"Observed warming over northern South American has an anthropogenic origin," Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, October, 2017 (talk by Armineh Barkhordarian).
"Characterizing Temperature Variability and Associated Large-Scale Meteorological Patterns Across South America," PSU-UNESP 2017 Workshop on Environmental Science (Climate Science, Extreme Environmental Events, and Water Resources), Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, October, 2017 (talk by Judah Detzer).
"The Influence of Recurrent Modes of Climate Variability on the Occurrence of Monthly Temperature Extremes over South America," American Meteorological Soceity Conference on Climate Variability and Change, Baltimore, MD, July, 2017 (talk by Judah Detzer).
"Oberserved Warming in Dry Seasons over Northern South America has an Anthropogenic Origin," American Meteorological Soceity Conference on Climate Variability and Change, Baltimore, MD, July, 2017 (talk by Armineh Barkhordarian).