The Plata Basin covers about 3'6 million km2'

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The La Plata Basin

• The Plata Basin covers about 3.6 million km2.
• The La Plata Basin is the fifth largest in the
  world and second only to the Amazon Basin in
  South America in terms of geographical extent.
• The principal sub-basins are those of the Parana,
  Paraguay and Uruguay rivers.
• The La Plata Basin covers parts of five
  countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay
  and Uruguay.

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Global relevance of the la Plata Basin

• LPB is home of more than 100 million people
  including the capital cities of 4 of the five
  countries, generating 70 of the five countries
  GNP.
• The fluvial transport of the Paraguay-Paraná
  Waterway was of 13,000,000 tons in 2004.
• The hydroelectric potential is estimated at
  92,000 MW. There is more than 150 dams, and 60
  of the hydroelectric potential is already used.
• It is one of the largest food producers
  (cereals, soybeans and livestock) of the world.

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La Plata Basin (LPB) Regional Hydroclimate
Project
Land cover/Land use changes
Floods
Biomass Burning

• What climatological and hydrological factors
  determine the frequency and spatial extent of
  floods and droughts? 
• How predictable is the regional weather and
  climate variability and how predictable are their
  impacts on the hydrological, agricultural and
  social systems of the basin?
• What are the impacts of global climate change and
  land use change on regional weather, climate,
  hydrology and agriculture? To what extent can
  their impacts be predicted?

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Standardized annual precipitation anomalies in
Corrientes (Argentina)
Vera and Silvestri (2009)
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Marengo et al. (2003)
SSTs
Chaotic Atm Dyn
LS-A
Soil Moisture Memory (days)
Koster et al. (2000)
Dirmeyer et al. (2009)
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Interannual Variability in the La Plata Basin
(LPB)
Positive OND precipitation anomalies in LPB
-ENSO warm events -SAM negative phase
(1970-1999)
LPB
Correlations between precipitation anomalies in
LPB and (left) SST anomalies and (right) 500-hPa
geopotential height anomalies. Significant values
at 90, 95 and 99 are shaded. NCEP reanalysis
data. (Vera and Silvestri 2009)
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Correlations between OND precipitation anomalies
in LPB and SST anomalies from WCRP/CMIP3 models
OBS
Significant values at 90, 95 and 99 are shaded.
(Vera and Silvestri, 2009)
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Correlations between precipitation anomalies in
LPB and 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies
from WCRP/CMIP3 models
OBS
Significant values at 90, 95 and 99 are shaded.
(Vera and Silvestri, 2009)
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Interdecadal variations of the SAM and its impact
on South America
Correlations of the SAM index with in-situ
precipitation (a-b), in-situ SLP (c-d),
reanalyzed SLP (e-f), Z500 (g-h), WIND850 (i-j)
and in-situ surface temperature (k-l). Colours
indicate values statistically significant at 90
and 95 levels. Grey dots in cases of in-situ
observations indicate stations with no
significant correlation.
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IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Projects with support from national agencies
European Union CLARIS - LPBA Europe-South
America Network forClimate Change Assessment and
Impact Studiesin the La Plata Basin
Scientific Community in the La Plata Basin
Universities, Research Centers, Operational
Centers or Agencies of the 5 countries Strongly
linked at both regional and global levels!
IAI Ecosystems, Biodiversity, Land Use and
Cover, and Water Resources
Other Anternational Agencies CYTED (Spain), NASA,
NSF, NOAA (USA), etc.
Interaction with CIC-GEF Framework Program for
the sustainable management of the La Plata Basin
water resources, in relation to climate
variability and change
Interaction with national governments and stake
holders
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CLARIS LPB A Europe-South America Network
forClimate Change Assessment and Impact
Studiesin La Plata Basin
The CLARIS LPB consortium
CLARIS LPB Budget (3.5M)
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CLARIS LPB Expected Impacts

• Strengthening of the cooperation between European
  and South American multidisciplinary research
  communities
• Improvement of climate change impact prediction
  capacity for the region through the setting-up of
  an ensemble of mutli-discipinary scenarios
  integrating in a coordinated way large-scale
  climate, regional climate, hydrological,
  land-use, and agriculture partners.
• Dissemination of adaptation strategies
  (specifically designed for land-use, agriculture
  production, rural development (small farmers),
  hydropower, flood risk, wetlands ecological
  systems, river navigation, and near-river
  urbanization) based on ensembles of probable
  climate change scenarios for the period 2010-2040

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CLARIS LPBSubprojects and WorkPackages

• Subproject 1 Management, dissemination and
  coordination activities
• WP1 Project management (J-P Boulanger, IRD)
• WP2 Project dissemination and coordination
  activities (J.-P. Boulanger, IRD)
• Subproject 2 Past and future hydroclimate
  (Coordinator Mario Nuñez, CONICET)
• WP3 Improving our description of recent past
  climate variability in La Plata Basin (Matilde
  Rusticucci, UBA and Phil Jones, UEA)
• WP4 Hydroclimate past and future low-frequency
  variability, trends and shifts (Leila Carvalho,
  USP, and Myriam Khodri, IRD)
• WP5 Regional Climate Change assessments for La
  Plata Basin (Hugo Berbery, CONICET and Hervé Le
  Treut, CNRS)
• WP6 Processes and future evolution of extreme
  climate events in La Plata Basin (Iracema
  Cavalcanti, CPTEC and Andrea Carril,
  INGV/CONICET)
• Subproject 3 Project interface (Coordinator
  Clare Goodess, UEA)
• ? WP7 An interface for improving prediction
  capability of climate change societal impacts
  (Caio Coehlo, CPTEC and J.-P. Boulanger, IRD)
• Subproject 4 Socio-economic scenarios and
  adaptation/prevention strategies
• ? WP8 Land use change, agriculture and
  socio-economic implications (Sandro Schlindwein,
  UFSC, and Karen Tscherning, ZALF)
• WP9 Water resources in La Plata Basin in the
  context of climate change (Vicente Barros,
  CONICET, and Massimo Guerrero, UNIBO)

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