Fires Arrive in the Amazon Rainforest

During El Niño, a cascade of fires across the tropics begins in equatorial Asia and continues in the central and eastern Amazon. Fires Arrive in the Amazon Rainforest. NASA Earth Observatory Oct 15, 2026 Article View more Images of the Day: Oct 14, 2026 Instruments: Aqua — MODIS Topics: El Nino Southern Oscillation Wildfires Unlike a tornado or thunderstorm that can deliver destruction in minutes, El Niño exerts its influence over many months.

This year, a drought accompanying El Niño has left the Amazon rainforest primed to burn, and scientists say the region has entered the early stages of what they think will be a long and severe fire season. Starting in September 2026, satellites detected sharp increases in fire activity and smoke emissions in the central and eastern Amazon, visible in fire and emissions monitoring platforms including NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED), and NASA Worldview. The region with elevated fire activity stretches from forests surrounding the commercial and transportation centers of Manaus and Santarém to the mouth of the Amazon River.

When the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of smoke streaming from fires on both sides of the Amazon River on October 12, 2026, heavy smoke socked in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. That day, city officials reported extremely poor air quality, with fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) values above 135 micrograms per cubic meter, the second-worst rating on a regional air quality index. The pall disrupted daily life in a city of more than 2 million people.

Schools closed, and citywide events and children’s sports leagues were canceled as officials warned of hazardous air quality, according to news reports.