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Rivers in the Amazon rainforest have dropped to record low levels as one of the region’s worst ever droughts pummels an ecosystem crucial for global climate stability.
Authorities in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on Monday reported the water mark of the Rio Negro, one of the world’s largest rivers by discharge levels, had fallen to an all-time low of 13.19 metres near the city of Manaus.
“We have never seen anything like this. It is the worst drought in history,” said Amazonas governor Wilson Lima, who has declared a state of emergency in more than 50 towns and cities.
The Amazon’s role as a giant absorber of carbon dioxide has been hampered in recent years by rising levels of deforestation. Parts of the world’s largest rainforest are also increasingly susceptible to fires, which meteorological experts say are now being exacerbated by the drought.
This has been the worst October for fires in Amazonas state since records began 25 years ago with more than 2,700 blazes reported so far this month, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.
Scientists say the drought is being caused by a combination of the El Niño weather event, which warms the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean’s surface, and an unusual patch of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean above the equator.
Together these have inhibited the formation of clouds and caused rainfall to drop sharply. In the Amazonian city of Belém, rainfall last month was a quarter of typical September levels.
All seven sections of the Upper Solimões river have been declared in a state of emergency as well as all eight sections of the Middle Solimões. Solimões is the name typically used to refer to the upper section of the Amazon River, between Manaus and the border with Peru.
Images from the region show normally bulging rivers running completely dry. Some half a million inhabitants have been affected, according to Amazonas state authorities.
With the rivers barren, key shipping routes have come to a standstill, causing a sharp reduction in the supply of food, fuel and basic goods to many parts of the region. Scientists have also warned about the potential outbreak of diseases, including malaria and hepatitis A.
The drought has also hit the region’s native wildlife, with scores of indigenous pink Amazon river dolphins washing up dead on shores in recent weeks.
Earlier this year, scientists warned about the potential risk of El Niño amplifying the region’s already changing climate patterns.
“El Niño makes the region hotter and drier, that is natural. The problem is the climate has changed,” said Erika Berenguer, a Brazilian researcher at the UK’s Oxford and Lancaster universities, pointing out there are regions that are now 2.5C hotter than previous average temperatures during the dry season.
“We have stronger, more intense dry season. And this increases the likelihood of having forest fires.”
Additional reporting by Beatriz Langella
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