May 1, 2012
Graph of the Day: Record Amazon River Level in Iquitos, 22 April 2012
The Amazon has reached record breadth, width, and height this rainy season. According to Peru’s Health Ministry, the river has grown at least 6.5 feet during the floods, with the Marañón River, which feeds the Amazon, increasing some 13 feet. Neither river has swelled this much since the 1970s, when a similar flood affected the area. [Flooding ravages Peru and Colombia – Amazon River reaches record breadth, width, and height] [cf. Sea change in salinity heralds shift in rainfall as Earth warms: Scientists have detected a clear change in salinity of the world’s oceans and have found that the cycle that drives rainfall and evaporation has intensified more than thought because of global warming.]
