The great 1983 floods in South American large rivers: a continental hydrological modelling approach. Issue 8 (10th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fleischmann, Ayan Santos; Siqueira, Vinícius Alencar; Wongchuig-Correa, Sly; Collischonn, Walter; Paiva, Rodrigo Cauduro Dias De
• Is Part Of: Hydrological sciences journal. Volume 65:Issue 8(2020)
• Page Start: 1358
• Page End: 1373
• Publication Date: 2020-06-10
• Subjects: 1983 floods -- regional floods -- hydrological modelling -- large-scale hydrodynamics -- South America; Hydrology -- Periodicals; 551.4805
• DOI: 10.1080/02626667.2020.1747622
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0262-6667

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study provides a spatio-temporal analysis of the great floods that occurred in South America in 1983 using hydrometeorological data and outputs from a continental-scale hydrological-hydrodynamic model. In the extreme year 1983, there were three main flooding periods (February, June and July) in many South American river basins, such as the Araguaia, Tocantins, São Francisco, Uruguay, La Plata and its tributaries, resulting in high discharge of the Paraguay River for many months. Depth–area–duration curves show that 3-day precipitation events in northern regions of South America were among the largest 15 events in the period 1980–2015 but only for specific locations, whereas in southern areas, the most extreme events in the same period were for larger durations (≥7-day precipitation). Modelled total export of water volume to the oceans indicates that rivers draining to the South Atlantic reached an anomaly of 3.7 during 1983, followed by 1998 (1.9) and 1992 (1.1), all of them corresponding to El Niño years.