Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 166:51–63Ĭook KH, Vizy EK (2008) Effects of twenty-first-century climate change on the Amazon rain forest. doi: 10.1029/2000JD000270Ĭolinvaux PA, Oliveira PE (2001) Amazon plant diversity and climate through the Cenozoic. doi: 10.1029/2002GL015451Ĭhou SC, Tanajura CAS, Xue Y, Nobre CA (2002) Validation of the coupled Eta/SSiB model over South America. J Clim 5:1181–1201Ĭampetella CM, Vera CS (2002) The influence of the Andes Mountains on the South American low-level flow.

Mon Weather Rev 128:1328–1346īroccoli AJ, Manabe S (1992) The effects of orography on midlatitude Northern Hemisphere dry climates. doi: 10.1029/2007TC002174īerbery EH, Collini EA (2000) Springtime precipitation and water vapor flux over southeastern South America. Geol Soc Am Bull 100:1640–1656īarnes JB, Ehlers TA, McQuarrie N, O’Sullivan PB, Tawackoli S (2008) Thermochronometer record of central Andean plateau growth, Bolivia (19.5S). Geology 19:401–404Īlpers CN, Brimhall GH (1988) Middle Miocene climate change in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile: evidence from supergene mineralization at La Escondida. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 25:139–174Īlonso RN, Jordan TE, Tabbutt KT, BVandervoort DS (1991) Giant evaporite belts of the Neogene central Andes. Mon Weather Rev 116:505–524Īllmendinger RW, Jordan TE, Kay SM, Isacks BL (1997) The evolution of the Altiplano-Puna plateau of the Central Andes. Our model results are largely consistent with proxy evidence of Andean climate change, and have implications for the timing and rate of Andean surface uplift.Īceituno P (1988) On the functioning of the Southern oscillation in the South American sector. Large northerly moisture flux and reduced low-level convergence over the Amazon Basin leads to a reduction in precipitation over much of the basin. Moisture drawn from the Amazon Basin provides the latent energy required to drive convection and precipitation along the Andean front. Above 50% of the modern elevation, a southward flowing LLJ develops along the eastern Andean flanks and transports moisture from the tropics to the subtropics. As a result, deep convection is suppressed and precipitation is low along the Andes. When the Andes are absent, the LLJ is absent and moisture transport over the central Andes is mainly northeastward. Our experiments indicate that the Andes have a significant influence on moisture transport between the Amazon Basin and the central Andes, deep convective processes, and precipitation over much of South America through mechanical forcing of the South American low-level jet (LLJ) and topographic blocking of westerly flow from the Pacific Ocean. We present experiments in which Andean heights are specified at 250 m, and 25, 50, 75, and 100% of their modern values. We use a limited-domain general circulation model (RegCM3) to evaluate the effect of the Andes on regional-scale atmospheric dynamics and precipitation. Mountain ranges are known to have a first-order control on mid-latitude climate, but previous studies have shown that the Andes have little effect on the large-scale circulation over South America.

America base one andes