Smaller flooded area in Brazil’s pantanal biome has increased fires
A study by MapBiomas released on National Pantanal Day on Tuesday (Nov. 12), shows that the pantanal’s flooded area has been shrinking in recent decades. The phenomenon is believed to be caused by increasingly shorter flood seasons and longer dry spells.The likely result is more intense fires in the world’s largest floodplain, said MapBiomas, a collaborative network of universities, NGOs, and technology companies monitoring changes in land cover and use in Brazil.According to the survey, the biome’s flooded area totaled 3.3 million hectares in 2023—a year 38 percent drier than 2018, when the last major flood in the biome occurred, covering 5.4 million hectares. This area, however, was already 22 percent drier than that of 1988—the first major flood in MapBiomas’ time series and which c...