Deforestation Lessens Amazon Rainfall—and Climate Change Hastens that Process, Study Finds
Researchers found severe deforestation could push widespread Amazon dieback with about 2°C less warming, raising the risk of grassland conversion much sooner.
- Wunderling at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found that deforestation reduces the critical global warming threshold for Amazon dieback by about two degrees, meaning widespread collapse could occur at just 22 per cent forest loss.
- The Amazon relies on moisture recycling, where trees transpire water back into the air to sustain downwind areas; cutting down forest areas disrupts this cycle, creating a domino effect that kills remaining trees.
- Wildfires now cause two-thirds of forest destruction, spreading from deforested plots into neighbouring woods as the rainforest becomes hotter and drier; Brazil lost about 0.5 per cent of its primary forest last year.
- David Armstrong McKay at the University of Sussex noted the findings assume high deforestation rates in protected areas, though President Luiz has promised to halt Amazon destruction by 2030.
- If deforestation resurges, The Amazon could cross a tipping point within decades, with dieback potentially converting up to 77 per cent of the biome into savanna as Earth warms by about 2.6 degrees.
22 Articles
22 Articles
Deforestation and warming could push Amazon to tipping point by 2040s: Study
Deforestation coupled with climate change is rapidly pushing the Amazon Rainforest toward a perilous tipping point that could come much sooner than previously thought. That’s the warning from a new paper, published in Nature, which determined that deforestation of 22-28% of the rainforest, combined with 1.5-1.9° Celsius (2.7-3.4° Fahrenheit) of global warming, could trigger a widespread transformation of the biome as early as the 2040s. Research…
Deforestation lessens Amazon rainfall—and climate change hastens that process, study finds
Climate change makes the southern Amazon's rain increasingly sensitive to deforestation, a new study finds. Clearing large areas of forest can trigger severe and lasting reductions in rainfall regardless of climate, but as the Amazon warms and dries, that "tipping point" arrives at ever lower levels of deforestation.
New Study Shows Risks of Amazon Deforestation. And Rewards of Protection.
If deforestation and global warming continue unchecked, the Amazon rainforest could begin a gradual transition to a degraded, grassland-like ecosystem in just a few decades, according to new research published Wednesday.
Will the rainforest become a savannah? Will rising temperatures and deforestation transform the Amazon.
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