Water and Carbon in the Amazon Case Study Flashcards
What is the world’s largest rainforest?
The Amazon Basin
How many trees are in the Amazon?
300 billion
How many different species are in the Amazon?
15,000
What proportion of the world’s carbon is stored as biomass in the Amazon?
1/5
How much area does the Amazon rainforest cover?
5.5million km2
How many countries is the Amazon spread across?
9
How many tons of carbon is stored in the Amazon?
Between 80 and 120 billion tons.
What is the total carbon sink of all the tropical rainforests in the world?
1-3GtC/year
By what percentage are tropical rainforests increasing their above ground biomass?
By 0.3-0.5%
What is the rising productivity of tropical rainforests due to?
Sequestering increased CO2 concentrations.
Why is the fact that rainforests are increasing productivity an example of negative feedback?
It has offset rising atmospheric levels of CO2.
What is the Amazon losing its capacity for?
It is losing its capacity to absorb atmospheric CO2.
What has halved since the 1990s?
The net uptake of carbon by the Amazon.
What has been overtaken by fossil fuel emissions in Latin America for the first time?
The net uptake of the Amazon
What has led to a growth spurt for the Amazon’s trees?
An increase in atmospheric CO2
What is a negative effect of the tree growth spurt in the Amazon?
The trees live faster and die younger leading to a surge in the rate of trees dying across the Amazon.
What is the average discharge of water into the Atlantic Ocean by the Amazon? What percentage is this equivalent to?
175,000m3
15% of the fresh water entering the oceans each day.
Which Amazon tributary is the second largest river in the world in terms of water flow?
The Rio Negro
How deep is the Rio Negro?
100m
How wide is the Rio Negro at its mouth?
14km
Where is the mouth of Rio Negro?
Manaus, Brazil
What is the average yearly rainfall for the Amazon?
2,300mm
How much rain can fall in the northwest portion of the Amazon basin?
Over 6000mm
How much of the rainfall may never reach the ground?
Up to half
Why does some of the rainfall never reach the ground?
It is intercepted by the forest canopy and re-evaporated into the atmosphere.
How else can water be released into the atmosphere?
Transpiration from plant leaves
Where else can water be evaporated from?
The ground and rivers.
What percentage of water that is evapotranspired back into the atmosphere falls again as rain?
48%
What percentage of rainfall actually reaches the sea?
30%
Give an example of a water related closed system loop?
Not all water actually reaches the sea or the ground and is instead re-released back into the atmosphere.
At what rate was the Brazilian Amazon deforested by between 2000-2007?
19368km2 per year
Between 2000-2007 an area of forest the size of which country was destroyed?
Greece
Which country is the 4th largest climate polluter?
Brazil
What are 75% of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions attributed to?
Deforestation and land use change
What is the removal of Brazilian Amazon mainly done by?
Slash and burn
What does slash and burn reduce the retention of?
Humidity in the soil’s top layer down to a depth of 1 metre.
What does slash and burn facilitate?
The sudden evaporation of water previously retained in the forest canopy.
What does slash and burn increase?
Albedo and temperature
What is albedo?
Reflectiveness
What else does slash and burn reduce? (to do with soil)
Porosity