Bad geography

[Argos]

On CNN, about the rainforest:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science...eut/index.html

Photo caption:

The Amazon is larger than the continental United States

Amazon is 40% the size of Brazil, which is equivalent to the continental US. Thus, the Amazon forest would cover only 40% of the US. Shame on you cnn... [-X

(*) The Amazon (plus Solimões) river(s) extend for almost 6,000 km. They would cross the continental US coast-to-coast.

[Brady Yoon]

It's still a pretty big rainforest. :wink:

[Argos]

It just occured to me that Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela have their share of the Amazon forest. Still, it wouldn´t be as large as the whole continental US. Perhaps all rain forests in the world would.

[TheGalaxyTrio]

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/

Quote: The Amazon River Basin is home to the largest rainforest on Earth. The basin -- roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States -- covers some 40% of the South American continent and includes parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname.

[Roy Batty]

And don't forget Ecuador 8)

Edit: Rats, beaten to it & then some

[Doe, John]

OK so the basin is approximately the size of the continental US and is home to the rainforest. That doesn't mean the rainforest is the same size as the basin

[Ut]

Especially considering the forest is shrinking, while the basin remains the same size...

[freddo]

Shame on you cnn...

There simply Against the Mainstream. They have interesting ideas on the Speed of Light too.

[Argos]

OK so the basin is approximately the size of the continental US and is home to the rainforest. That doesn't mean the rainforest is the same size as the basin

That´s it :wink:

The Amazon basin is also home for the "savanna"(*) a different kind of vegetation. The savanna extends over nearly half the Amazon region in Brazil. It undergoes six months of drought a year, so one can´t say it is a rain forest, which is characterized by constant rain (in Manaus, capital of the Amazon state, in the actual rain forest, meetings are scheduled in function of the rain: "see you after the 5 o´clock rain")

(*) The fear of the greenies is that the rain forest will be overwhelmed by the savanna.

[milli360]

Argos:
Photo caption:

The Amazon is larger than the continental United States

Also, in the story, it says "the Amazon, a continuous tropical forest larger than the continental United States", so they're specific about tropical forest. But doesn't the "continuous forest" extend not only into other countries in the Amazon basin but also into other basins?

[Argos]

But doesn't the "continuous forest" extend not only into other countries in the Amazon basin but also into other basins?

In fact, the southernmost rims of the Amazon forest are on the northern fringes of the Plata Basin (rivers Paraguay and Parana).

[milli360]

So wouldn't that make the CNN claim more reasonible?

[Argos]

So wouldn't that make the CNN claim more reasonible?

A distinction has to be made between Amazon forest and the Rain Forest.

The amazon forest is comprised of savanna, too. The Amazon forest spreads out the Amazon basin (a little), but not the Rain Forest, which is at the core of the basin. The CNN article implies that the Rain Forest is the size of the USA. I say it´s possible, if you sum all other occurrences of rain forest in the world (Africa and Asia).

The Amazon share of other south american countries is small. Eighty per cent of it is in Brazil.

edited for grammar.