Record wildfires and drought hit the Amazon, drying up rivers and smothering Brazil in smoke

• Brazil's state of Amazonas has experienced the most wildfire outbreaks this October than any other October since 1998.
• Following months of drought, the Negro River, a primary sea passage for cargo, on Monday hit its lowest water level in over a century, causing some companies to pause shipping operations.
• The extreme weather conditions have led to dangerous air quality in surrounding areas and depleted resources for Indigenous communities.

Smoke from a fire rises into the air as trees burn amongst vegetation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas state, Brazil, August 3, 2023.

Leonardo Benassatto | Reuters

The Amazon has experienced record number of wildfires this October after a severe drough.

On Monday, the Negro River hit a level of 13.59 meters, the lowest since 1902, according to the Port of Manaus, a central port in the capital city in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. The region has experienced months without rain, leading to an intense drought.

That drought is contributing to record wildfires. According to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, in the first 15 days of October, more than 2,900 wildfires have broken out in Amazonas, more than any other October month since 1998, when the institute began keeping track. In the first half of 2023, 3.6 million acres of the Amazon have been burned by wildfires, according to the Rainforest Foundation.

The drought has disrupted cargo shipping along the region's rivers and depleted food, water and medical resources for Amazonian indigenous communities.

"We ask the government to declare a climate emergency to urgently address the vulnerability Indigenous peoples are exposed to," APIAM, an organization that represents Amazonian tribes, said in a statement last Wednesday.

By Friday, most cities in Amazonas had declared a state of emergency.

Danish shipping giant Maersk also on Friday said that the low water level of the Negro River was impeding operations: "The depth of the Amazon River at its critical passage points has reached a level that renders the maritime operations in Manaus unfeasible, therefore we have limited booking acceptance."

Meanwhile, the fires have generated clouds of smoke that have brought the air quality to surrounding areas to dangerous levels.

Manaus postponed its annual marathon, which was supposed to take place on Oct. 15, until Dec. 17. The marathon organization said that the delay was a result of "the unhealthy air" in the city from Oct. 10 to 11.

These extreme weather circumstances in Amazonas have been connected to both human-driven deforestation, which worsens climate change, and the El Niño weather phenomenon, a naturally occurring climate pattern that brings warmer ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.