IDEA

Impact of Brazil Deforestation on Energy and water Atmospheric budgets (IDEA)

IDEA is a Climate Science for Service Partnership (CSSP) Brazil project in partnership with the UK Met Office to identify the regional climate impacts of deforestation in Brazil.

Background
Our research in BAG has shown that Brazilian deforestation causes local and regional warming and changes in local and regional rainfall. These changes in climate will have large impacts for vulnerable communities across Brazil. However, our work has shown that the current generation of climate models struggle to represent the effects of tropical deforestation. Improved model predictions of the climate impacts of land-use change are needed to strengthen resilience to future change and provide the evidence to support climate action.

Project outline
IDEA will assess the impact of deforestation on atmospheric water and energy budgets and regional precipitation in Brazil. Our research will:
• Identify historical changes in moisture budgets and rainfall caused by Brazil deforestation
• Assess 2050 changes in atmospheric moisture transport over Brazil
• Evaluate likelihood and potential mitigation of climate tipping points associated with Amazon deforestation and climate change