The drought that hit the Amazon region last year was the most severe in a century, concluded a study by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), confirming the suppositions of many scientists. The researchers analyzed precipitation figures for the Amazon basin dating back to 1902, and found that even the drought of 2005, formerly considered the worst in recorded history, was not as serious as the 2010 drought.

"El Niño, a phenomenon characterized by unusually warm waters in the Pacific, combined with a rise in temperature in the North Atlantic, caused a prolongation of the drought for many months, leading to alterations in the hydrologic cycle. This lowered water levels and even completely dried up some of the rivers in the Amazon basin," José Marengo, head of the INPE Earth System Science Center, told Tierramérica.

"Extreme episodes like this one will become more frequent in future scenarios of climate change," he warned.