ABSTRACT:

This resource contains the data and R workspace required for reproducing the analyses in the following manuscript:

Citation for: "Quantifying Impacts of Wildfire on Quantifying Impacts of Fire on Flow Regimes in Southeastern Amazon Basins"

Included in this resource are: 1) the R and Google Earth Enginer scripts used to download and process streamflow, precipitation, and burn data; 2) the outputs generated from the R scripts; 3) a description of the connections between scripts and outputs; and 4) a description of the execution sequence of the R scripts. These inclusions are described in this resource's "read me" file.

For additional context, we provide the abstract from the "Quantifying Impacts of Wildfire on Quantifying Impacts of Fire on Flow Regimes in Southeastern Amazon Basins" manuscript:

The increasing spread of fire within the Amazon rainforest is a significant disturbance that has the potential to alter flow regimes and subsequently impact local ecology and ecosystem services. While previous studies have examined the impact of land cover change on streamflow, the specific effects of fire on the hydrology of Amazonian forested catchments remain uncertain, especially in previously undisturbed forests. This study investigates the impacts of fire on hydrology in the Amazon using a before-after control-impact (BACI) paired watershed approach. Our analysis tested for post-fire increases in the magnitude and variability of the streamflow regimes of five watersheds in the Southeastern Amazon. Flow regime magnitude and variability were quantified using the monthly metrics of basin yield and basin yield coefficient of variation, number of reversals, and average rise rate, respectively. Differences in metrics were assessed before and after fire disturbance, relative to nearby reference watersheds. Following fire disturbance in these five watersheds, three watersheds showed increases in magnitude and four watersheds showed increases in variability. The range in fire effect size was 6.01%-7.98% for streamflow magnitude and 10.89%-70.28% for variability. Our findings suggest that hydrological effects of fire are present in the Amazon, with the primary impact being increases in streamflow variability. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the impact of fire on Amazonian catchment hydrology and highlights the importance of considering fire as a factor in managing and protecting tropical forest ecosystems.

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Multi-hazard data from National Center for Environmental Information

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Mercury (Hg) in the Amazon arises from natural mineral deposits and as a by-product of legal and illegal gold mining activity. Increased gold mining within the basin is strongly linked to economic demand, human health, and the integrity of freshwater ecosystems. While Hg is a trace metal inherent to the natural environment, sufficiently high concentrations are toxic to plants and animals, especially in its organic form. The fate of Hg in the Amazon basin has been well-documented in studies of air, soil, water, sediment, plants, fish, and humans, though no holistic effort has been made to characterize spatial and temporal trends in Hg exposure across the Amazon basin. This database collates the results of 50+ studies and 26,000+ observations that have measured Hg in the Amazon and presents key findings over 30 years of research. Data is organized into mean, median, ranges, and maximum Hg concentrations.

ABSTRACT:

Filled streamflow time series, Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA), and median annualized hydrographs for 404 stations across the Amazon Basin. This dataset corresponds to the manuscript "Flow Regimes of the Amazon" (Siddiqui et al., submitted June 2020). Metadata is provided for each station. Further details of processing are available upon request.

Contents:
1) "metadata.csv": contains each stations attributes (only stations which met the criteria to be in the analysis, n=404), classification number, and IHA/EFC components

2) "Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration": Detailed IHA results for each station

3) "Median Annual Hydrographs": Median annual daily flow for each station

4) "Streamflow Time series" Folder: daily flow data for all available years

5) "IHA_EFC_Key.pdf": connects to the codes (i.e. M1 = January Magnitude) in the metadata.csv file