Brazil scientist blames logging for extreme drought
November 4, 2014
Brazil scientist blames logging for extreme drought
3 hours ago
Increased logging and burning in the Amazon rainforest will worsen already disastrous droughts, a leading Brazilian scientist warned in a new report on climate change.
Trees in the Amazon rainforest emit into the atmosphere the equivalent of 20 billion tons of water daily, Antonio Donato Nobre, a researcher at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, told AFP in an interview Monday.
They do this, in part, through "aerial rivers and vaporclouds" that form over the forest and bring rain to thousands of kilometers of terrain to the southeast, he said.
"It's like a pump sending water to other regions," said Nobre.
"The problem is we are destroying the source of these rivers," he stressed.
More:
http://phys.org/news/2014-11-brazil-scientist-blames-extreme-drought.html#jCp