And of course the rich biodiversity it has, with many of the species found nowhere else, makes it an immensely important ecosystem for the planet
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and that alterations to this discharge -- due to the change in rainfall -- would affect both the currents and the regional and global weather patterns that they help to shape.

The Amazon river is the world's largest, and with its more than 1,100 tributaries it makes up by far the world's largest freshwater resource.
Scientists say the massive discharge of fresh water into the Atlantic helps to determine ocean currents..

Tropical forests also produce cloud cover that reflects sunlight back to the space, and has a cooling effect on the planet.
As long as this continues, it will slow down the warming of the Earth.

Why does it matter to the wider world?

The Amazon remains a powerful #carbonsink. As of 2022, it was estimated to hold 71.5bn metric tonnes of carbon, above & below ground, according to the MAAP report released in 2024. That is equivalent to nearly 2 yrs of global CO2 emissions

In September 2024, there were 41,463 fire hotspots in the Brazilian Amazon - highest for that month since 2010, according to INPE. Some scientists fear the drying rainforest ecosystem is reaching a #tippingpoint, from which it will be unable to recover and will be lost forever.

Also a significant rise in #temperature and prolonged #drought episodes have had an impact on the rain-forest's basic functioning, making the usually humid forest drier, and more susceptible to forest fires.

The most badly affected region is the western Amazon, furthest from Atlantic, particularly southern #Peru & northern #Bolivia
The entire wet & humid rainforest were highly resistant to #forestfires, but in areas that have been starved of rainfall this resistance is weakening

Patches of the Amazon that have been deforested and degraded over the years cannot properly circulate the moisture from the ocean, and as a result far less of it re-enters the atmosphere via evapotranspiration.

This circulation of water from one patch of rain-forest to another happens across the Amazon and partly explains how the vast rainforest has thrived.
But that circulation of moisture, experts warn, has now been disrupted.

These atmospheric rivers first drop rain on the eastern part of the Amazon, close to the Atlantic. The water then rises again into the air, from the ground & vegetation (through #evapotranspiration), and moves further west before falling on another patch of the rainforest