Fassoni-Andrade A. C. auteur aut IRD de Paiva R. C. D. auteur aut IRD Wongchuig S. auteur aut IRD Barbosa C. auteur aut IRD Durand Fabien auteur aut IRD Silva T. S. F. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Water fluxes in the Amazon River floodplain affect hydrodynamic and ecological processes from local to global scales, but they remain poorly understood due to difflcult accessibility and limited data. We characterized the hydrodynamics of eight floodplain units of the central Amazon River (40000 km2) using the 2D hydraulic model HEC-RAS. High resolution modelling (-400 m) improved the representation of river and floodplain discharge, water surface elevation (77 cm accuracy) and flood extent (-80% -high water period,-52% -low water period) compared to past modelling studies. Our results show that floodplain flows during floods are very intense with upstream inflow and downstream outflow of the floodplain units. These gross flows are much larger than the net flows, with values of up to 20% of the Amazon River discharge and residence time around 6 days during floods (several months during low water period). Water extent did not show strong interannual variability during floods as the volume stored in the floodplain did, possibly due to topographic constraints. Signiflcant hysteresis in flood extent and volume, and active and storage zones on the floodplain highlight the complexity of floodplain hydrodynamics. Extreme floods strongly impacted the onset and duration of the flood by up to one month and, consequently on duration of high water renewal period with the river. Our characterization is important to assess the effects of extreme floods on riverine communities, understand nutrient and sediment variations in the floodplain, and characterize the export of water, sediment, and carbon flux to the ocean from the world's largest hydrological system. specialized BRESIL 062 020 625 B 130122 [16 ] 2023 0022-1694 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010090324 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130122 0022-1694 [F B010090324] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010090324 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2023-11/010090324.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2023-11-10 2025-02-24 fdi:010090324 fre