Amazon’s drought last year said to be worst in century

A new study concludes that last year’s drought in the Amazon was the worst in over 100 years and put severe stress on the rainforest ecosystem. The study, published April 1 in Eos, the weekly magazine of the American Geophysical Union, shows that greenness levels—a measure of a forest’s health—fell dramatically throughout 2.5 million square kilometers (965,000 square miles) of the Amazon. Moreover, the damaged area did not recover to normal levels even after the drought ended in late October 2010. “We don’t know whether the reduction in greenness as captured by satellite reflected the loss of leaves from the drought, the death of water sensitive trees, or an increase in fires,” says Ranga Myneni, a professor in the department of geography and... [Log in to read more]

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