Huge Storm DestroyedHalf Billion Trees in Amazon in 2005

A new study calculates that a single massive storm that ripped across the Amazon in 2005 killed more than 500 million trees, evidence that storms play a greater role in rainforest dynamics than previously believed. Using satellite images, field measurements and modeling, researchers determined that a series of squalls measuring 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and 124 miles (200 kilometers) wide that ripped through the Amazon basin in January, 2005 accounted for about 30 percent of observed deforestation in that region for the entire year, according to the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. A peak in tree mortality that year had previously been attributed to drought. While experts have long known that storms play a role in deforestation, the new evidence suggests that losses are greater than previously estimated, said Jeffrey Chambers, a forest ecologist at Tulane University and one of the authors of the paper. And since storm intensity is expected to increase with a warming climate, researchers say forests could become increasingly vulnerable to increased tree mortality and the subsequent release of carbon into the atmosphere.