Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has seen a record number of fires this year as the devastation continues. According To the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), satellite data showed an 83 percent increase in the same period in 2018. The space agency has reported its satellite data has detected more than 72,000 fires since January 2019.
The intense and longstanding fires have emanated considerable smoke and NASA has been able to take satellite footage the apocalyptic scenes.
Aerial footage also shared online shows large swathes of the Amazon Rainforest have been wiped out as over 9,000 wildfires took hold of trees and grassy patches over the past four days.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has dismissed climate concerns, claiming farmers in the region have been using fire to clear land for the winter.
Some conservationists have blamed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for the forest fires, saying he has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land.
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Mr Bolsonaro said he disagrees with the latest data presented, saying it was the “season of the queimada”, when farmers use fire to clear land.
Josélia Pegorim, Climatempo meteorologist, told Globo: “The smoke did not come from fires from the state of São Paulo, but from very dense and wide fires that have been going on for several days in Rondônia and Bolivia.
“The cold front changed the direction of the winds and transported this smoke to São Paulo.”
The Amazon rainforest has been fire-resistant for much of its history because of its natural moisture and humidity but NASA has said drought and human activities are causing wildfires.
A release from the space agency said: “The intensity and frequency of droughts in turn, have been linked with increases in regional deforestation and anthropogenic climate change.”
Ricardo Mello, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Amazon Programme, added the fires were “a consequence of the increase in deforestation seen in recent figures.”
Meteorologist Eric Holthaus today tweeted: “Smoke from the fires currently burning in the Amazon rainforest is covering about half of Brazil. We are in a climate emergency.”
Speaking to Reuters, meteorologist Alberto Setzer from INPE said the institute had recorded “nothing abnormal” about the climate in Brazil this year which could explain the increase in wildfires.
Mr Setzer said: “There is nothing abnormal about the climate this year or the rainfall in the Amazon region, which is just a little below average.
“The dry season creates favourable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident.”