NASA Earth Observatory

Smoke From Amazon's Fires Blotted Out The Sun, Can Be Seen From Space

Updated September 5, 2021

Brazil's Amazon rainforest has seen record burning in 2019, the BBC reported, and now the world is starting to take notice of the unprecedented situation in one of the world's most important ecosystems.

The scene of Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, blanketed in so much smoke that the middle of the afternoon looked like midnight, underscored the situation in Brazil.

Sao Paulo is 1,500 miles (2,400 km) away from where the bulk of the Amazon's fires are burning, and yet even it has had the sun blotted out by the smoke.

"It was as if day had turned into night," one resident told the BBC. "Everyone here commented, because even on rainy days it doesn't usually get that dark. It was very impressive."

The surreal scene comes on the heels of an unprecedented rate of burning in the Amazon.

Researchers with Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE) say that since Jair Bolsonaro took power in January, the country has seen a record number of fires, more than 74,000 between then and August, an 84% increase over the same period of 2018. The previous record year for fires was 2016, which saw 68,000 fires over the same period.

The rate of burning only seems to be accelerating as 2019 progresses.

NASA Earth Observatory

Over the past week, another 9,500 fires have been reported. It has not gone unnoticed by space agencies, as the EU's Earth Observation Programme says it has seen increased fire activity in Brazil's Amazonas and Rondonia states since August 1, and NASA posted images of the fires in the Amazon taken from space.

Bolsonaro and INPE officials have butted heads over the deforestation of the Amazon.

Bolsonaro has chalked up the increase in fires to the "queimada" or burn, the time of year when farmers often use fire to clear land. When the head of INPE brought up the discrepancy between 2018 and 2019's data, noting that this year hadn't been particularly dry or more susceptible to fires, Bolsonaro said it "doesn't relate to the reality" and fired INPE's director.

The Amazon is the world's largest rainforest, about half the size of the U.S.

It's home to about three million species of plants and animals, one million indigenous people, and soaks up 2.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

h/t BBC, CNN, Earther