Airborne Profiles Show Amazon Carbon Flip

Fifteen years of aircraft vertical‑profile measurements indicate the Amazon sometimes emits more carbon than it sequesters, especially in years when human clearing and climate stressors (drought, El Niño, wildfires) coincide. The shift isn’t constant — wet, undisturbed years show small sinks or near‑neutral balance — but the episodic source years are large enough to change the region’s net role for the global carbon budget. — If the Amazon becomes a persistent net carbon source during climate‑stress years, global carbon budgets, emissions targets, and forest‑protection policy priorities must be rethought now, not later.