Rivers in the Amazon basin fell to record-low levels in October 2024 as drought gripped vast areas of South America.
Rivers in the Amazon basin fell to record-low levels in October 2024 as drought gripped vast areas of South America. Months of diminished rains have amplified fires, parched crops, disrupted transportation networks, and interrupted hydroelectric power generation in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
This pair of Landsat images illustrates the shrinking Solimões River near Tabatinga, a Brazilian city in western Amazonas near the border with Peru and Colombia. The image above (right) was captured by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on September 21, 2024. The other image (left) shows the same area on September 21, 2021, when water levels were closer to normal.
On October 4, 2024, river gauge data from the Brazilian Geologic Service indicated that the Solimões had fallen to 254 centimeters below the gauge’s zero mark, a record low. Rivers that day also reached record lows near the cities of Porto Vehlo, Jirau-Justante, Fonte Boa, Itapéua, Manacapuru, Rio Acre, Beruri, and Humaitá. Water height data collected by satellite altimeters and processed by a team of NASA scientists reported unusually low water levels at several Brazilian lakes and reservoirs as well, including Lake Tefe, Lake Mamia, Lake Mamori, Lake Ariau, Lake Faro, and Lake Erepecu.
Read more at NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Tama66 via Pixabay
