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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 32,
L16308,
4 PP., 2005
doi:10.1029/2005GL023491
Seasonal fluctuations in the mass of the Amazon River system and Earth's elastic response
Geodetic Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Geological Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Geodetic Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Department of Ecology, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil
Center for Earthquake Research and Information, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Hawaii Institute for Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
A GPS station in Manaus, near the center of the Amazon basin, manifests an annual cycle of vertical displacement with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 50–75 mm. This is by far the largest crustal oscillation observed to date, and nearly 2–3 times larger than the amplitude predicted for this region. Vertical ground displacement is strongly anti-correlated with the local stage height of the Amazon river, with no detectable time lag between the two time series. This suggests that we are observing, for the first time, a purely elastic response to changes in the weight of a flowing river system. We use a simple hydrological model to relate stage height to the regional pattern of flooding, and argue that the elastic oscillations observed in Manaus are dominated by changes in water loading developed within ∼200 km of the GPS station.
Received 27 May 2005; accepted 22 July 2005; published 24 August 2005.
Citation: (2005), Seasonal fluctuations in the mass of the Amazon River system and Earth's elastic response, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L16308, doi:10.1029/2005GL023491.
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