Sea level at the mouth of the river with the largest flow on Earth has risen 12.4 cm in three decades, eroding riverside territories and reshaping the local economy, according to an unpublished analysis. Intense rains and droughts in the Amazon are altering the interaction between the river’s mouth and the Atlantic Ocean, driving higher tides and coastal salinization. The effects of these changes are already visible in the availability of the species most commonly caught along the Amazon coast. They are also closely tied to deforestation on the continent: by 2050, a 45% reduction in forest cover could weaken the force with which the Amazon’s plume reaches the Atlantic.
Tag: Amazon River mouth
Oil companies create ‘smokescreen’ to enable exploration off Brazil’s Amazon coast
Oil companies are covertly positioning to extract oil from the entire mouth of the Amazon River, an investigation shows. Drilling in this ecologically sensitive region could impact traditional communities, and nature reserves.