Addendum to “Hydrometric Data Rescue in the Paraná River Basin” by Andrés Antico, Ricardo O. Aguiar, and Mario L. Amsler

Abstract

Antico et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR020897) made available the longest hydrometric record (1875–2017) of the Paraná River of South America, one of the 10 largest rivers in the world. The oldest part of this record (1875–1883) has low accuracy because it was obtained from a hand‐drawn plot of the time series of daily water levels at Rosario City, Argentina. Here we overcame this data limitation by digitizing more accurate typewritten daily water levels observed at Rosario in 1875–1883. The digitized levels were referenced to the modern datum, subjected to quality checks, and corrected for errors caused by a gradual gauge sinking. A rating curve was used to convert water levels into discharges. Interestingly, our data capture the extreme Paraná flood associated with the very strong 1877–1878 El Niño.

ENSO and Paraná flow variability: Long‐term changes in their connectivity

“…It is also worth mentioning that, since 1875, the most devastating Paraná floods occurred in the hydrological years 1878, 1905, 1983, 1992 and 1998, when strong El Niño events developed (Antico et al ., 2016; 2020; Antico and Diaz, 2020). That is, none of these extreme floods occurred during 1941–1982, when there was no relationship between ENSO and Paraná flow.…”

“…(2018, 2020) made available records of monthly mean Paraná flow observed at Rosario City (32°57′S, 60°38′W) covering the period 1875–2017. These records are complete (no missing values) and were subjected to quality and homogeneity tests (see Antico et al ., 2018, 2020, for descriptions of these tests and of the history of Rosario gauges). Moreover, these flow data were corrected for the gradual gauge sinkings that occurred in 1875–1908 (see Antico et al ., 2018, 2020).…”

“…These records are complete (no missing values) and were subjected to quality and homogeneity tests (see Antico et al ., 2018, 2020, for descriptions of these tests and of the history of Rosario gauges). Moreover, these flow data were corrected for the gradual gauge sinkings that occurred in 1875–1908 (see Antico et al ., 2018, 2020). Since Rosario is relatively close to the river mouth (see Figure 1), flow data from this city reflect changes in runoff integrated over most of the Paraná basin.…”

Hydrometric Data Rescue in the Paraná River Basin

“…Additionally, a rating curve was obtained for Rosario and it was used to convert water levels into discharges. The water level and discharge data rescued in this work are available at the Pangaea database (Antico et al, ).…”

“…Paraná levels at Rosario are provided by the National Water Agency of Brazil (http://www2.ana.gov.br/) but only for the short interval 1985–2003. We remedy these lacks of data by providing our rescued 1875 to present records of Paraná level and discharge at Rosario; these records are available at the Pangaea database (Antico et al, ).…”