Brazil
Record Amazon Wildfires
Brazil’s space research center has reported 72,843 wildfires in the Amazon rainforest this year, with 9,507 of them taking place since last Thursday. The agency said that fires have increased in the states of Rondonia and Amazonas, which declared a national emergency earlier this month over the wildfires. While fires in the Amazon can naturally occur between the months of August and November, they are frequently started to create space for cattle ranching. Residents as far as São Paulo in southeastern Brazil experienced blackouts on Monday due to smoke from wildfires in the Amazon and nearby Paraguay.
This map depicts the location of recent forest fires in the Amazon, colored in green. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The Sun
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Colombia
Fungus Devastates Banana Crops
The Colombian government has declared a national emergency after scientists confirmed this month a deadly fungal disease is destroying its banana plantations. The Panama TR4 disease, which has been devastating banana crops in Southeast Asia since the 1990s, was detected in northern Colombia in June. Officials quarantined four farms on the Guajira Peninsula, but they now fear the fungus has left the containment zone. The disease particularly affects the Cavendish banana, the main variety sold in grocery stores across the world. Scientists are working to contain the soil-borne fungus within infected fields, but TR4 can remain active for roughly 30 years.
This map depicts confirmed locations of the Panama TR4 fungal disease in banana-producing countries. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Nature
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India
New Study on Mass Grave
A new genetic analysis has overturned previous theories on the origins of hundreds of human skeletons at Roopkund Lake in Uttarakhand, India. The prevailing theory until recently was that a large group of travelers was caught in some sort of catastrophic event—perhaps a severe hailstorm—around 1,200 years ago. However, an international team of researchers published a new study yesterday that contradicts previous attempts to explain the mass grave, which contains bones from up to 800 people. The majority of the deceased indeed died over 1,000 years ago, but some came from a period hundreds of years later, perhaps as recently as the early 19th century. Meanwhile, the genetic makeup of the skeletons is not fully local—some of the individuals have East Asian-related ancestry, while others came from the Mediterranean. Another expedition to the lake, which is 16,500 feet above sea level, is being planned for next year in order to study artifacts associated with the skeletons.
This map depicts the location of Roopkund Lake in the Indian Himalayas. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Over which body of water in South America does Catatumbo Lightning, a natural phenomenon occurring 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day, and up to 280 times per hour, take place?
A: Lake Maracaibo
Catatumbo Lightning is a phenomenon that can only be found at Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, where cold and warm air currents combine to produce lightning for up to 10 hours each day. Catatumbo Lightning has figured in literature as far back as the late 16th century, appearing in Spanish poet Lope de Vega’s “La Dragontea” in 1598.
Source
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Q: What two rivers meet to form the point at which three empires had divided what is present-day Poland?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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