Overview
- The Nature paper published Thursday uses a unique 15‑year record of airborne vertical‑profile carbon measurements to show the Amazon was a net source of carbon across the span of observations.
- The authors attribute most net emissions to human land‑use change—clearing, logging and fire—while droughts and heatwaves amplify those losses.
- The team identified 2024 as the single highest‑emission year in the 15‑year record, a peak tied to very warm, very dry conditions combined with high fire‑driven deforestation.
- Airborne sampling was chosen because frequent cloud cover limits satellite views and ground stations are sparse, making vertical profiles the clearest way to measure regional fluxes.
- The paper warns of a potential ecosystem tipping point that could lock in greater emissions and calls for halting deforestation and expanding monitoring to better guide policy and protect local livelihoods.