Land cover change effects on the climate of the La Plata Basin

A research paper analyzing the hydroclimatic impacts of replacing natural forests, savannas, and pastures with agriculture across the La Plata River basin using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model.

• In the northern La Plata River basin, replacing forests and savannas with crops increases albedo and reduces surface roughness length. This leads to lower near-surface temperatures, stronger low-level winds that advect moisture out of the region, a reduction in vertically integrated moisture flux convergence (VIMFC), and a subsequent decrease in precipitation.
• In the southern La Plata River basin, the transition from grasslands to crops reduces albedo, which increases near-surface temperatures. Because the reduction in surface roughness length is less significant than in the north, northerly moisture fluxes are reduced, leading to a net increase in VIMFC and precipitation.
• Land cover changes within the basin have broader atmospheric effects, specifically modifying precipitation patterns and circulation downstream over the South Atlantic Ocean via advective processes.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Land cover change effects on the climate of the La Plata Basin. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-effects-on-the-climate-of-the-la-plata-basin/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Land cover change effects on the climate of the La Plata Basin. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-effects-on-the-climate-of-the-la-plata-basin/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Land cover change effects on the climate of the La Plata Basin |date=17 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-effects-on-the-climate-of-the-la-plata-basin/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025land, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Land cover change effects on the climate of the La Plata Basin}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/land-cover-change-effects-on-the-climate-of-the-la-plata-basin/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }