In 2005, the Amazon region of Brazil confronted its worst drought in over a century. Now in 2010, an even worse drought has struck. The Rio Negro, the largest tributary of the Amazon above the city of Manaus, reached its lowest level since the beginning of record keeping in the 1800s.
Deforestation may not be the rain-forest's biggest enemy after all. As weather patterns change due to global warming, more frequent and more severe droughts are punishing the Amazon basin. Interspersed with these intense droughts are massive floods caused by record snow melt in the Andes - the Rio Negro reached its highest flood stage ever in 2009! The annual rise and fall of the rivers that have been a part of Amazon life for centuries are being driven to greater and greater extremes. How far before the balance is finally disrupted?
I apologize for the brevity of this diary, but as a picture is worth 1,000 words, I will leave you with this:
Follow this link for another "44,000 words."
continued at Daily Kos....
