Brazil is fighting wildfires that have cast smoke across swaths of its territory, fuelled by heatwaves and the nation’s worst drought on record. The area of the Amazon in Brazil, home to about two-thirds of the world’s largest rainforest,

Brazil is enduring its worst drought since nationwide measurements began over seven decades ago, with 59% of the country under stress — an area roughly half the size of the U.S.

A series of record-breaking wildfires are currently burning in several regions in Brazil, threatening residents and some of the most important ecological systems.

The worst drought on record has lowered the water level of the rivers in the Amazon basin to historic lows, in some cases drying up riverbeds that were previously navigable waterways. The Solimoes, one of the main tributaries of the mighty Amazon River whose waters originate in the Peruvian Andes,

The current drought is concerning because it comes relatively early in the Amazon's dry season.

About one-sixth of the world's freshwater that reaches the oceans passes through the Amazon's 320-km-wide delta as it empties into the Atlantic.

Brazil faces record wildfires and drought — and it may only get worse - Amazon fires have burned millions of acres, sending air quality plummeting for major metropolitan areas