Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment
Paleoclimate records have long documented the existence of multicentury hydroclimate anomalies in the Altiplano of South America. However, the causes and mechanisms of these extended events are still unknown. Here, we present a climate modeling experiment that explores the oceanic drivers and atmosp...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Ignacio Alonso Jara Orlando Astudillo Pablo Salinas Limbert Torrez-Rodríguez Nicolás Lampe-Huenul Antonio Maldonado |
| author_facet | Ignacio Alonso Jara Orlando Astudillo Pablo Salinas Limbert Torrez-Rodríguez Nicolás Lampe-Huenul Antonio Maldonado |
| author_sort | Ignacio Alonso Jara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Paleoclimate records have long documented the existence of multicentury hydroclimate anomalies in the Altiplano of South America. However, the causes and mechanisms of these extended events are still unknown. Here, we present a climate modeling experiment that explores the oceanic drivers and atmospheric mechanisms conducive to long-term precipitation variability in the southern Altiplano (18–25° S; 70–65 W; >3500 masl). We performed a series of 100-year-long idealized simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, configured to repeat annually the oceanic and atmospheric forcing leading to the exceptionally humid austral summers of 1983/1984 and 2011/2012. The aim of these cyclical experiments was to evaluate if these specific conditions can sustain a century-long pluvial event in the Altiplano. Unlike the annual forcing, long-term negative precipitation trends are observed in the simulations, suggesting that the drivers of 1983/1984 and 2011/2012 wet summers are unable to generate a century-scale pluvial event. Our results show that an intensification of the anticyclonic circulation along with cold surface air anomalies in the southwestern Atlantic progressively reinforce the lower and upper troposphere features that prevent moisture transport towards the Altiplano. Prolonged drying is also observed under persistent La Niña conditions, which contradicts the well-known relationship between precipitation and ENSO at interannual timescales. Contrasting the hydroclimate responses between the Altiplano and the tropical Andes result from a sustained northward migration of the Atlantic trade winds, providing a useful analog for explaining the divergences in the Holocene records. This experiment suggests that the drivers of century-scale hydroclimate events in the Altiplano were more diverse than previously thought and shows how climate modeling can be used to test paleoclimate hypotheses, emphasizing the necessity of combining proxy data and numerical models to improve our understanding of past climates. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7e80aae704e547e39e0970a75763e451 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj-art-7e80aae704e547e39e0970a75763e4512025-08-20T03:13:36ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332025-06-0116775110.3390/atmos16070751Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling ExperimentIgnacio Alonso Jara0Orlando Astudillo1Pablo Salinas2Limbert Torrez-Rodríguez3Nicolás Lampe-Huenul4Antonio Maldonado5Departamento de Ciencias Históricas y Geográficas, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica 1000000, ChileCentro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Colina del Pino, La Serena 1700000, ChileCentro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Colina del Pino, La Serena 1700000, ChileCentro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Colina del Pino, La Serena 1700000, ChileDepartamento de Ingeniería en Computación e Informática, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica 1000000, ChileCentro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Colina del Pino, La Serena 1700000, ChilePaleoclimate records have long documented the existence of multicentury hydroclimate anomalies in the Altiplano of South America. However, the causes and mechanisms of these extended events are still unknown. Here, we present a climate modeling experiment that explores the oceanic drivers and atmospheric mechanisms conducive to long-term precipitation variability in the southern Altiplano (18–25° S; 70–65 W; >3500 masl). We performed a series of 100-year-long idealized simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, configured to repeat annually the oceanic and atmospheric forcing leading to the exceptionally humid austral summers of 1983/1984 and 2011/2012. The aim of these cyclical experiments was to evaluate if these specific conditions can sustain a century-long pluvial event in the Altiplano. Unlike the annual forcing, long-term negative precipitation trends are observed in the simulations, suggesting that the drivers of 1983/1984 and 2011/2012 wet summers are unable to generate a century-scale pluvial event. Our results show that an intensification of the anticyclonic circulation along with cold surface air anomalies in the southwestern Atlantic progressively reinforce the lower and upper troposphere features that prevent moisture transport towards the Altiplano. Prolonged drying is also observed under persistent La Niña conditions, which contradicts the well-known relationship between precipitation and ENSO at interannual timescales. Contrasting the hydroclimate responses between the Altiplano and the tropical Andes result from a sustained northward migration of the Atlantic trade winds, providing a useful analog for explaining the divergences in the Holocene records. This experiment suggests that the drivers of century-scale hydroclimate events in the Altiplano were more diverse than previously thought and shows how climate modeling can be used to test paleoclimate hypotheses, emphasizing the necessity of combining proxy data and numerical models to improve our understanding of past climates.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/16/7/751Altiplanopaleoclimateclimate anomalyclimate model simulationsSouth Americaweather research and forescating model (WRF) |
| spellingShingle | Ignacio Alonso Jara Orlando Astudillo Pablo Salinas Limbert Torrez-Rodríguez Nicolás Lampe-Huenul Antonio Maldonado Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment Atmosphere Altiplano paleoclimate climate anomaly climate model simulations South America weather research and forescating model (WRF) |
| title | Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment |
| title_full | Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment |
| title_short | Exploring the Causes of Multicentury Hydroclimate Anomalies in the South American Altiplano with an Idealized Climate Modeling Experiment |
| title_sort | exploring the causes of multicentury hydroclimate anomalies in the south american altiplano with an idealized climate modeling experiment |
| topic | Altiplano paleoclimate climate anomaly climate model simulations South America weather research and forescating model (WRF) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/16/7/751 |
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