Scientists in Brazil starve trees of water to test Amazon’s limits

November 6, 2025 12:28 PM

Scientists in Brazil starve trees of water to test Amazon’s limits

Under Brazil's Amazon rainforest canopy, hundreds of transparent plastic panels hang between tree trunks to starve a hectare of land of half the water it normally receives. Scientists are creating this artificial drought in Querencia municipality close to the southeastern edge of the world's largest rainforest to better understand the limits of the Amazon's resistance to extreme dry conditions that are predicted by climate change models. In the experiment, called Seca Limite, or Limit Drought,...

Global river flows hit all-time lows in 2023, UN says

October 7, 2024 3:10 PM

Global river flows hit all-time lows in 2023, UN says

River flows around the world fell to all-time lows last year amid record heat, endangering water supplies in an era of growing demand, a U.N. weather agency report showed on Monday. Prolonged droughts cut river flows in large parts of North, Central and South America with the Mississippi and Amazon River basins reporting record low water levels in 2023, according to the State of Global Water Resources report based on data going back 33 years. The Ganges and Mekong river basins also experienced...

Worst drought on record lowers Amazon rivers to all-time lows

September 18, 2024 3:37 PM

Worst drought on record lowers Amazon rivers to all-time lows

The worst drought on record has lowered the water level of the rivers in the Amazon basin to historic lows, in some cases drying up riverbeds that were previously navigable waterways. The Solimoes, one of the main tributaries of the mighty Amazon River whose waters originate in the Peruvian Andes, has fallen to its lowest level on record in Tabatinga, the Brazilian town on the border with Colombia. Downriver in Tefé, a branch of the Solimoes has dried up completely, as seen by Reuters reporte...