News Earth

Brazil’s Amazon has burned this badly before. This year’s fires are still bad

An environmental scientist discusses possible impacts from the fires

Amazon fire

Smoke from thousands of fires burning in the Amazon can be seen by satellites in space. This image was captured over the Brazilian rainforest on August 22.

NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

By Gloria Dickie

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is being ravaged by fire. More than 74,000 fires have burned in the country since January, according to the country’s National Institute for Space Research — with 9,500 new forest fires igniting since just last week, the result of the natural dry season and fires intentionally ignited to clear forest.