Such fires often have severe ecological impacts because Amazon forests are not adapted to fire. Understory fires occur when other fire types escape their intended boundaries and burn through leaf litter and woody debris in standing Amazon rainforests. The trees are usually left to dry for several months to make the wood easier to burn, and fires typically are not set until the dry season. The process begins months to years before fires are set, when forests are first razed by bulldozers and tractors. Deforestation fires are part of a multi-step forest-removal process intended to make land usable for ranching and farming. The major roadways that run through the rainforest had large clusters of deforestation fires (red) and occasional understory forest fires (light green).

The map at the top of this page depicts all of the fires that satellites detected in key parts of Amazonas and Pará states between June 1 and August 3, 2020. “We are also finding that large numbers of the fires in those states are clearly deforestation-not small-scale agricultural fires.” Instead, there is a noticeable increase in fire activity since the moratorium went into effect on July 15,” said Douglas Morton, chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We see little evidence that the burning moratorium has had an impact. However, the NASA-led fire analysis indicates that there has been a proliferation of fires in key deforestation hotspots in the southern Amazon states of Pará, Mato Grosso, and Amazonas. In July, Brazil announced a 120-day ban on fires in the Amazon rainforest it was presented as an effort to limit ecological damage from fires this year. The fire analysis tool is already bringing new clarity and insight to the 2020 fire season. The tool was made available on the web on August 19, 2020.

The satellite-driven, web-based tool quickly classifies fires into one of four categories-deforestation, understory fires, small clearing and agricultural fires, and savanna/grassland fires. Finally, experts have warned that current economic conditions and incentives make land-clearing more likely.īut there is at least one piece of good news: NASA-funded researchers have developed new tools that will make it easier for governments and other stakeholders to understand what types of fires are burning, where they are burning, and how much risk those fires pose to the rainforest. Satellite-based deforestation tracking systems also have observed large patches of rainforest being razed in recent months, suggesting there is plenty of drying wood primed to burn. In May and June 2020, warm Atlantic Ocean surface temperatures pointed to a greater risk of drought for key parts of the Amazon rainforest. Following a notable increase in fire activity in August 2019 and a gradual rise in deforestation across multiple years, a team of scientists at NASA and the University of California-Irvine has been watching closely for signs of how the 2020 season might shape up. In the southern Amazon, the dry season typically begins in July and continues through November, bringing increased fire activity along with it.

Jungle heat observatory