Peru's Stretch Of Amazon River Experiences 35-Year Lows In Water Levels

[hatrack]

LIMA - Water levels along Peru's stretch of the Amazon river have fallen to 35-year lows following a series of recent hurricanes along US and Mexican coasts and years of deforestation in the Amazon jungle, Peru's National Meteorological Service, SENAMHI, said.

According to studies at Peru's main Amazon jungle town, Iquitos, water volumes in October have fallen to 423,700 cubic feet (12,000 cubic meters) a second from a normal average of 882,866 cubic feet (25,000 cubic meters) a second, SENAMHI told daily newspaper Peru.21 on Friday. Due to a public holiday in Peru on Friday, SENAMHI was not available for comment.

"Water levels in the Amazon river (in Peru) have reached a 35-year low in the past few days ... it's causing problems with river transport," said Juan Arboleda, a scientist at SENAMHI. Iquitos is a major port on the Amazon and river travel is the main form of regional transport.

"Because of the hurricanes in the northern hemisphere, it hasn't rained in the jungle since August. The high rate of deforestation is also having an effect," said climate specialist Ena Jaimes at SENAMHI.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/32894/story.htm

[progressive_realist]

1. The Amazon is yet another ecosystem reaching its tipping point.

A major reason the Amazon experiences so much rainfall is natural recycling. Water precipitates and evaporates in rapid succession, without ever leaving the region. There is a vast amount of water "stored" in the rainforest in this manner. Once the water cycle is broken, it is likely that this water will find its way either into the oceans or into other regions of the atmosphere. Which would mean the end of the rainforest, even the parts that haven't been cut down or burned. :-(

[blindpig]

2. The river fluctuates wildly in the best of times.

When I was there in the dry season of 1999{August) you had to asend a nearly vertical bank near 20' to attain level land. There you could observe the high water mark on the trees, about 7' off the ground!