Earth1:28 video1 primary source
Satellite analysis finds additional fires in Brazil's Amazon
Some Amazon fires can burn beneath smoke and trees without showing up in standard satellite counts.
Images: NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview · Music: "Floating Cities" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Narrated and written with AI, checked against primary sources. Our standards
The gist
- NASA reports increased fire activity in the central and eastern Amazon.
- Around Santarém, one researcher's analysis found about 40 percent more fires than NASA's standard counts.
- Most species in these rainforests are not adapted to fire.
What happened
NASA's Earth Observatory reports increased fire activity in the central and eastern Amazon, with Aqua satellite imagery showing smoke along the Amazon River. University of Maryland researcher Shane Coffield used satellite observations to identify additional fires around Santarém, where observations indicate 50 to 70 uncontrolled fires.
Why it matters
Fires cause especially serious ecological damage in these rainforests because most of their species are not adapted to burning.
How we know
The supplied primary account, NASA Earth Observatory's report, combines Aqua satellite imagery with Shane Coffield's analysis of satellite fire observations, rather than independent confirmations of his local estimate.
What we don’t know yet
Dense smoke, clouds and tree cover can hide fires from satellites, so the full extent is harder to establish. The 40 percent figure is a local comparison, not a correction for the entire Amazon. NASA scientist Douglas Morton expects burning around Manaus and Santarém until seasonal rains arrive in December or January.
Sources & credits
Sources
Image, footage and music credits
- Images: NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview (Public domain, U.S. Government work (NASA media usage guidelines: NASA content is generally not subject to copyright in the United States))
- Narration: Grok voice Lumen
- Music: "Floating Cities" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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