Amazon rainforests moving towards tipping point: New evidence from satellite data analysis

According to data analysis from high-resolution satellite images, Amazon forests could likely be losing their resilience. The reason behind this problem could be due to stress that is caused by the combination of burning and logging. So far the human-caused climate change is unclear but could matter greatly in the future. Since the early 2000s, the recovery from perturbation of the forest has been decreasing for almost three-quarters, which according to scientists is a warning sign. Advanced statistical analysis of changes in vegetation biomass has been derived from new satellite data.

Niklas Boers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Technical University of Munich that conducted the study jointly with researchers from the University of Exeter, UK suggest that reduced resilience and the ability to recover from turmoils like fires and droughts can mean an increased risk of dieback of Amazon rainforest.

Bores went on to explain how the Amazon rainforests are home to a unique host of strongly influenced rainfall and host of biodiversity, all over South America via enormous evapotranspiration and also stores a huge amount of carbon that could be released as greenhouse gases in case of even partial dieback, which in turn contributes to global warming. He added that things would get too late when the tipping itself will be observable. Amazons are the potential tipping elements of the Earth system and many studies have revealed its vulnerability. However, Boers noted that computer simulation studies of the future yield a range of results.

According to the analysis of two satellite data sets the representing biomass and greenness of forests reveal critical slowing down. The critical slowing down is seen as a weakening of restoring forces that usually brings back the system to its equilibrium after perturbations.

Scientists found in the data that the loss of resilience could be because of the relation to rainfall in a given area in Amazon that culminates in three ‘once in a century’ drought events in the region.