Expert: “A vicious cycle that will destroy Amazon has begun”
Lowest water levels in several rivers… The main cause is El Niño
Drought fire carbon dioxide amount due to El Nino rises
The Rio Negro River, one of the world’s largest rivers and a major tributary of the Amazon, is drying up due to drought, raising concerns about the climate crisis.
According to the British Financial Times (FT) on the 6th (local time), the water level of the river in the area of Manaus, a Brazilian port city in the center of the Amazon, has fallen to 12.7m, more than 6m lower than the existing average, and major rivers in the Amazon have been affected due to an unprecedented drought over the past few weeks. The water level reached a new low. In addition to the Rio Negro River, water levels in the Solimos and Madeira rivers also dropped to record lows. In some parts, the river bed was exposed.
The direct cause of the Amazon drought is the El Niño phenomenon, which raises the temperature of the equatorial surface of the eastern Pacific Ocean, and an anomaly in which warm water from the Atlantic Ocean flows over the equator.
These two phenomena suppressed cloud formation and drastically reduced rainfall. In Belém, a city in the eastern Amazon, rainfall last September was a quarter of normal levels.
Experts believe that the high temperature phenomenon occurring in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has become worse due to climate change caused by human carbon emissions. Experts are voicing concerns that the climate crisis may have reached a ‘tipping point’.
“Global warming is clearly contributing to this unusual drought,” said Tim Renton, head of climate change and Earth system science at the University of Exeter, UK.
Drought has far-reaching effects on Earth’s climate. Droughts and fires caused by El Niño in 2015-16 killed more than 2.5 billion trees and vines and released about 500 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to a 2021 UK-Brazil study. According to the Amazonas state government, more than 3,400 fires broke out in the Amazon last month.
“We are starting a vicious cycle that will destroy the Amazon,” said Philippe Funside, a scientist at the National Amazon Research Institute in Manaus.
“The Amazon is at the center of the global warming problem because of the enormous amount of carbon that is there,” he said. “Even if only a small amount of this carbon is released, the climate crisis could quickly worsen. “And the risk of this happening is increasing.”
Residents in surrounding areas also suffered great damage due to the drought. As ships were unable to move and traffic through the river was paralyzed, approximately 500,000 residents of Amazonas state, where Manaus is located, experienced humanitarian problems, such as not being supplied with food and supplies.
Accordingly, about 60 local governments in Amazonas state officially entered a state of emergency, with the government urgently providing basic supplies such as food, water, and medicine.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.