Wildfire hotspots across Brazil now 76% higher than in 2023
With over 2,300 fire hotspots detected in the last 48 hours, Brazil has seen 226,600 cases detected by the National Institute for Space Research this year. This figure represents a surge of 76 percent from the same period in 2023. Of the total number of outbreaks detected, 49.4 percent occurred in the Amazon.
The cerrado is the second most affected Brazilian biome in absolute numbers, with 32.1 percent. The pantanal, despite registering six percent of the total number of hotspots in the country, was the biome that saw the biggest growth in fires compared to 2023—1,240 percent.
Areas of the pantanal and the Amazon are on alert for heavy rainfall, the National Meteorological Institute reported Monday (Oct. 14). However, the institute is predicting rainfall below the historical average in much of the North until December, with low levels of humidity in the soil in much of the region in October. In the Amazon, the state of Pará recorded 466 hotspots in the last 48 hours. Mato Grosso recorded 189.
Matopiba (a region combining the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia), where the cerrado biome predominates, has seen 826 outbreaks in the last 48 hours. The region is currently under a low humidity alert, with an increased risk of forest fires.
Drought
The National Water and Sanitation Agency has declared water shortages on the Madeira and Purus rivers, in Amazonas; the Tapajós and Xingú rivers, in Pará; and the entire Paraguay hydrographic region, in the pantanal. As a result of the low water levels in the rivers, communities have been left isolated in the Amazon and several rivers have reached the lowest levels observed in the current time series.
