Land surface-atmosphere interaction in future South American climate using a multi-model ensemble

Abstract The land–atmosphere interaction for reference and future climate is estimated with a regional climate model ensemble. In reference climate, more than 50% of the models show interaction in southeastern South America during austral spring, summer and autumn. In future climate, the region remains a strong hotspot although somewhat weakened due to the wet response that enhance energy limitation on the evapotranspiration. The region of the Brazilian Highlands and Matto Grosso appears as a new extensive hotspot during austral spring. This is related to a dry response which is probably accentuated by land surface feedbacks.