RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A gray cloud has reached Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. Over 19 days in September, hot spots in the Amazon are now 34 percent more than in the same month in 2019. In the Pantanal, the increase is more than double compared to last year.
The smoke from the fires in the Amazon and the Pantanal now covers over four thousand kilometers of Latin America and part of neighboring countries.
The path of the smoke can be seen in a satellite image released by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE) on Saturday, September 19th.
INPE recorded 26,656 hot spots in the Amazon forest between September 1st and 19th. In less than 20 days, the figure is now 34 percent higher than last year’s entire month: 19,925. The average for this period of the year is 32,812 hot spots.
The Pantanal is also experiencing a record number of fires. In only 19 days in September, the biome has far more fires than the total historical average for the month: 5,815 hot spots have been detected, with a historical average of 1,944 for the 30 days.
The smoke is traveling to neighboring countries and spreading towards southern Brazil. Part of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay are now covered by the gray cloud. The winds are also pushing the pollution to the southern and southeastern states of Brazil.
Source: G1