When in flood, the Amazon river system covers an area twice the size of Ireland to a depth of 10 m.
The south east of Brazil is mountainous (up to 3,000 m) and forms part of the Brazilian Plateau which makes up 60% of the country. The rest of the country is made up of lowland plains.
Drainage
The drainage basin of the Amazon occupies almost one third of Brazil. The basin is made up of lowlands, swamps, floodplains and rainforests. Brazil has one of the largest river systems in the world. It has eight major drainage basins. The Amazon-Tocantins-Araguaia basins in the north drain over 56% of the country.
Other major rivers in Brazil are the Rio de la Plata and the São Francisco. Nor th Rio Negro r Manaus o Selv as Porto Velho
Mato Grosso Cuiaba
Campo Grande Iguacu Falls Porto Alegre Curitiba Salvador Brasilia
Chapada Diamantina
Belo Horizonte Rio De Janeiro São Paulo South
Atlantic Ocean
Fig. 4 Drainage of Brazil Climate of Brazil
Brazil’s climate is strongly influenced by its latitude, size and wide variation in relief. Brazil lies between 5ºN and 32°S of the equator. Because it is such a large country, Brazil has five climatic zones that can be placed into three main groups: equatorial, tropical and semi-arid. Only the northern and western regions of Brazil are equatorial; 90% of the country experiences a tropical climate. Due to local variations in relief and complex wind patterns, the north-east of Brazil around Belem experiences a semi-arid climate. At the country's southern extreme, there have been frosts south of the Tropic of Capricorn during the winter (June – August). In some years there have been snowfalls on the mountainous areas of the Brazilian highlands in Paraná State.