The characterization of the moisture flows over South America, with a special focus on the Southeast Brazil (SEB), was performed through the analysis of 21 Earth System Models (ESMs) belonging to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) for the present climate (1971–2000) and projections for the late 21st century (2071–2100) using a scenario of high radiative forcing (RCP 8.5). The results show that the ESMs simulate well the spatial distribution of the flow and the divergence of moisture in the present climate, when compared with the 20CRv2c reanalysis, although some biases have been identified. In relation to the magnitude of the moisture flow, the models underestimate the moisture convergence mainly on the central, south and southeast regions of South America. On SEB, the simulations show that the main sources of moisture for the region come from the north and east edges, confirming the contribution of moisture from the Amazon Basin and the South Atlantic Ocean. Climate change projections indicate an increase in moisture flow across South America, and regions of moisture convergence (divergence) in the present climate are projected to be even more convergent (divergent) in the future climate. In addition, the moisture flow over the SEB also showed to be more intensified on all lateral edges, as well as the moisture balance. This result is consistent with some studies on projections of climate change towards the end of the 21st century, which indicate that there will be an intensification of meteorological systems such as the Low Level Jet and the South American Monsoon System, contributing to the increase of moisture transport to the SEB region.

This work proposes an adaptation of the method developed in previous papers to determine the onset and demise of the rainy season (ONR and DER) dates in the areas of the South American monsoon system (SAMS) based on the pentad antisymmetric outgoing long‐wave radiation (AOLR). In those papers, the sign change of the mean AOLR in the central Amazon Basin (CAM) and western central Brazil (WCB) from positive to negative defined the ONR, from negative to positive, the DER dates. Since the monsoon convection presents a northwest–southeast oriented progression, the antisymmetric area to the WCB was selected subjectively. Thus, here we propose to use the Ward hierarchical clustering method to select areas in the SAMS and in the northern tropical America (NTA) for the regionalized AOLR calculation. The significant (at the 95% confidence level) negative correlations with the largest magnitude among the clusters in the SAMS and NTA and the outgoing long‐wave radiation (OLR) and precipitation annual cycles in each group define the pairs to calculate the AOLR. Then, the AOLR time series is calculated and subjected to a 5‐pentad running mean filter. This method keeps the climatological features of the convection annual cycle such that the closer (farther) the pair is to the equator the longer (shorter) the rainy season. The ONR and DER dates found with this new method are remarkably close to those found previously. Therefore, the new method proposed here highlights regional aspects of rainy season and can easily be automatized for its routine application at the operational climate monitoring centres, for instance at INPE. This is the most important advantage of the method and might be relevant to the SAMS rainy season monitoring.

Different algorithms for forecasting and tracking meteorological systems have been developed over the years. Many of them are used to study cloud propagation, precipitation and lightning for nowcasting. Therefore, it is necessary to define carefully the parameters (e.g., intensity thresholds and minimum size) that impact tracking of these variables. In order to represent the physical aspects of rain propagation over the Amazon region, several methods of correction and displacement detection were studied. Different parameters were used to validate the methods based on the extrapolated rain cell. A probability detection of 78.4% and 68.6% was achieved for 20 dBZ thresholds during the wet and dry season, respectively. However, the POD decreases for higher reflectivity thresholds. The results for corrections by Inner Nuclei showed that embedded convection can dictate the propagation of rain cells. Split and merge corrections performed well; however, they applied only to a few cases. Corrections performed better for precipitating systems with larger areas and longer duration. The correction methods showed similar skills for both seasons. Which shows that they are able to monitor rain cells throughout the year. The automated combination of different methods for the 20 dBZ threshold proved to be the best choice for tracking rainfall in the Amazon region.

The environmental licensing has generated uncertainties about its effectiveness; making it necessary to encourage mechanisms to improve the political-institutional setting. Thus, this study aimed at evaluating the legal and technical concordances of the environmental licensing processes of mining enterprises in the south of the state of Minas Gerais. Using checklists, thirteen licensing processes were analyzed, where the pre- and post-approval stages were assessed. It was observed that the environmental studies didn’t correspond to the terms of reference and the expected quality, as well as the noncompliance of the proponents regarding the approval of the environmental management reports. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a lack of technical performance of the analysts of the competent environmental agency and, therefore, it is necessary to improve the technical evaluation system of environmental studies as a tool to improve EIA processes.

The Amazon Basin is the largest rainforest in the world, and studying the rainfall in this region is crucial for understanding the functioning of the entire rainforest ecosystem and its role in regulating the regional and global climate. This work is part of the application of complex networks, which refer to a network modeled by graphs and are characterized by their high versatility, as well as the extraction of key information from the system under study. The main objective of this article is to examine the precipitation system in the Amazon basin during the austral summer. The networks are defined by nodes and connections, where each node represents a precipitation time series, while the connections can be represented by different similarity functions. For this study, three rainfall networks were created, which differ based on the correlation function used (Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall). By comparing these networks, we can identify the most effective method for analyzing the data and gain a better understanding of rainfall’s spatial structure, thereby enhancing our knowledge of its impact on different Amazon basin regions. The results reveal the presence of three important regions in the Amazon basin. Two areas were identified in the northeast and northwest, showing incursions of warm and humid winds from the oceans and favoring the occurrence of large mesoscale systems, such as squall lines. Additionally, the eastern part of the central Andes may indicate an outflow region from the basin with winds directed toward subtropical latitudes. The networks showed a high level of activity and participation in the center of the Amazon basin and east of the Andes. Regarding information transmission, the betweenness centrality identified the main pathways within a basin, and some of these are directly related to certain rivers, such as the Amazon, Purus, and Madeira. Indicating the relationship between rainfall and the presence of water bodies. Finally, it suggests that the Spearman and Kendall correlation produced the most promising results. Although they showed similar spatial patterns, the major difference was found in the identification of communities, this is due to the meridional differences in the network’s response. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of carefully selecting appropriate techniques and methods when analyzing complex networks.