Zhuang et al. (2026) The Growing Role of Evaporative Demand in Driving Record‐Breaking Droughts in the Amazon Basin

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-10-06
• Authors: Yizhou Zhuang, 卢镇, Xusheng Tang, Meng Chun Gao
• DOI: 10.1029/2026gl123820

Research Groups

• Amazonas State University (UNAMA)
• National Institute for Space Research (INPE)

Short Summary

This study reveals that rising evaporative demand, driven by background warming and increased shortwave radiation, is now a primary driver of drought intensification in the Amazon, exacerbating hot droughts.

Objective

• Investigate the shift from precipitation deficits to evaporative demand as a driver of drought events in the Amazon region

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional (Amazon basin)
• Temporal Scale: 1979–2024

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not specified, but likely utilizes INPE's own climate modeling framework or other regional climate models
• Data sources: Satellite observations, reanalysis datasets (e.g., ERA5)

Main Results

• Rising evaporative demand (PET) is now a primary driver of drought intensification in the Amazon
• Escalating atmospheric thirst almost doubled the severity of the 2024 drought
• PET increase expands the total drought footprint and disproportionately amplifies exceptional (D4) droughts

Contributions

• Provides new evidence for the shift toward hot droughts in the Amazon, highlighting the importance of thermodynamic and radiative feedbacks
• Demonstrates that neutralizing either background warming or increased shortwave radiation can reduce D4 drought coverage by 25%–33%

Funding

• Not specified

Citation

@article{Zhuang2026Growing,
  author = {Zhuang, Yizhou and 卢镇 and Tang, Xusheng and Gao, Meng Chun},
  title = {The Growing Role of Evaporative Demand in Driving Record‐Breaking Droughts in the Amazon Basin},
  journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026gl123820},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026gl123820}
}