Reacción a "One lake in the central Amazon reached 41 °C and four others exceeded 37 °C in 2023"

An unprecedented drought and heatwave severely affected the waters of lakes in the Amazon region in 2023, causing high mortality rates among fish and river dolphins. These shallow lakes are the canaries in the coal mine of climate change effects, as their relatively low heat capacity, compared to large ocean water masses, means they have little thermal inertia and react quickly to external forces.

It is important to note that combined extreme events, such as drought and heat waves in this case, are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration due to anthropogenic climate change, and that these combined events have amplifying interactions. The impacts are not simply the sum of the individual events; their interaction generates disproportionately large effects, as is the case reported here regarding the extremely high temperatures in lakes approaching or exceeding the thermal tolerance limits of aquatic life.

IPCC reports warn that with the increase in global average temperature, the impacts of combined events may become systemic and highly likely to cause multiple (food, energy, health) and cascading failures. All of this must be taken into account when planning the adaptation of various ecosystems and socio-economic sectors.