16/04/14

The global peril of droughts in the Amazon

By: Rodrigo de Oliveira Andrade

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<h1>The global peril of droughts in the Amazon</h1>
<h4>By: Rodrigo de Oliveira Andrade</h4>
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<p>The Amazon rainforest may release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than it stores during droughts, a February paper in <em>Nature</em> found.</p>
<p>Luciana Vanni Gatti of the Nuclear Energy Research Institute in Brazil reached that conclusion in a project involving fellow Brazilian researchers and colleagues from Australia, the United Kingdom and United States.</p>
<p>The study shows that the Amazon’s ability to absorb CO<sub>2</sub> from the atmosphere seems to be linked to rainfall. If further research confirms this conclusion, climate change could turn the region into a net source of CO<sub>2</sub> emissions, rather than somewhere that absorbs it, as previously thought. This could accelerate and intensify global warming.</p>

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The Amazon rainforest may release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than it stores during droughts, a February paper in Nature found.

Luciana Vanni Gatti of the Nuclear Energy Research Institute in Brazil reached that conclusion in a project involving fellow Brazilian researchers and colleagues from Australia, the United Kingdom and United States.

The study shows that the Amazon’s ability to absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere seems to be linked to rainfall. If further research confirms this conclusion, climate change could turn the region into a net source of CO₂ emissions, rather than somewhere that absorbs it, as previously thought. This could accelerate and intensify global warming.