In the case of carbon dioxide, for example, the forest destruction is doubly harmful, Dr. ''They are large enough to cause significant changes in the chemical balance of the atmosphere and influence the global weather,'' he said. Setzer said, the ''tremendous'' emissions coming off the Amazon pose serious problems. But NASA researchers are now searching for such traces by satellite.īut even without the ozone question, Dr. Setzer said.Īmerican scientists who took part in the mission over Antarctica by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in October said they had not searched for or found evidence of compounds from the Amazon. Many scientists now believe that several of these gases, including methane and nitrogen oxides, are among the reactive gases that can directly or indirectly deplete ozone, Dr. Their gases and particles were then lifted up higher into jet streams and blown south across the South Atlantic, close to Antarctica. Smoke Rises to 12,000 FeetĪlberto Setzer, coordinator of the satellite data at the Space Research Center in this south Brazilian city, said smoke clouds from the Amazon fires often rose to 12,000 feet. This has raised questions about a possible link between the gigantic emissions from the fires in the South American tropics and the damage to the earth's protective ozone shield over Antarctica. The pioneering studies, which include the most comprehensive estimates yet of the emissions from the Amazon fires, also found that pollution from the burnings traveled thousands of miles. The remainder, they added, involved regrown forest on previously cleared land, savannas and fields. Of these, at least 30,000 square miles were newly felled virgin forest, the researchers said. ![]() ![]() ![]() In 1987, Brazilian scientists estimate, fires just in Brazil's part of the Amazon basin covered 77,000 square miles, an area one and a half times the size of New York State. The scientists' findings show that in 1987 the burnings ruined more forest cover than previously thought and proved to be major polluters of the earth's atmosphere. Environmentalists have long warned of the destruction that is increasing with each new dry season, and witnesses every year report more cemeteries of trees.
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