Global warming lengthens Amazon Rainforest fire season

Researchers at the University of Texas say that global warming is the most likely cause for a longer dry season in the Amazon Rainforest, according to a release. The lengthened dry season has prolonged the area’s fire season.

To evaluate the dry season, the researchers compared ground-based rainfall measurements from the past three decades. They say that the Amazon’s dry season has gotten longer by one week every 10 years.

Their findings are in contrast to those recently released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predict that the Amazon’s dry season will only lengthen by a maximum of 10 days by the end of the century. With its analysis, the University of Texas team says the potential for rainforest dieback could be much worse than the IPCC predicts.

Image: Amazon canopy (Credit: Fabrice Marr, Creative Commons)