Gérard Moss,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 16 May 1955, died 16 March 2022) was a Swiss-Brazilian pilot, engineer, public speaker, environmentalist and explorer born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. As a pilot, Gerard was known for being the first person to complete a solo flight in a

motor glider A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...

around the world. Gérard and his wife Margi Moss are naturalized citizens of Brazil and until as late as 2012 were the only South American citizens considered Earthrounders. As an environmentalist, Gerard and his wife have started many projects to prevent

Deforestation in Brazil Brazil once had the highest deforestation rate in the world and in 2005 still had the largest area of forest removed annually. Since 1970, over of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed. In 2001, the Amazon was approximately , which is only ...

and evaluate the quality of its water and air. After living in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

for 25 years, the couple moved to

Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...

in 2006 to be closer to the Amazon Rainforest and begin the Flying Rivers project.

Early life and expeditions

The life of Gerard as an explorer started early. After getting his first passport at age 4, he would fly to England and Switzerland to visit his parents. In 1983, after graduating as a mechanical engineer, Gerard acquired his pilot license in California and arrived in Brazil, where he set up a maritime

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

business to transport soybeans. In 1989, he completed his first round the world flight along with Margi, whom he met in Búzios in 1985.

Four corners of the Americas

In 1997 he flew to the four corners of the American continent. Starting in Rio de Janeiro, he flew to

Cape Froward Cape Froward () is the southernmost point of mainland South America. It is located in the Magallanes Region of Chile, along the north shore of Magellan Strait, being the southern tip of the Brunswick Peninsula. In January 1587, the English cor ...

, Chile in the extreme south, then the extreme west on

Cape Prince of Wales Cape Prince of Wales (Russian: Мыс Принца Уэльского) () is the westernmost mainland point of the Americas. It was named in 1778 by Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy, presumably for the Prince of Wales at the time, Geo ...

, Alaska followed by Zenith Point in Canada and finally Ponta dos Seixas back in Brazil. His expedition was covered by

Rede Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV stati ...

on ''

Fantástico ''Fantástico'' (originally known as ''Fantástico: O Show da Vida'', Portuguese for ''Fantastic The Show of Life'') is a Brazilian weekly television news program broadcast on Sunday nights on Rede Globo since August 5, 1973, created by José Bo ...

''.

First motor glider flight around the world

In 2001, he completed the first flight around the world in a motor glider, using the Ximango manufactured in Brazil. The aircraft has a near-handcrafted production and proved to be very efficient. The journey was planned to be completed in 100 days. His expedition was once again covered by ''Fantástico'', a work that resulted in the book ''Asas Do Vento: A Primeira Volta Ao Mundo Num Motoplanador'' (''Wings of the Wind: The First World Tour in a Motorglider'').

Environmental projects

With the aid of his private flight experience, Moss was able to witness firsthand the effects of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and deforestation. His concerns grew into projects that aimed at conservation of Brazilian natural resources. His projects evaluated the quality of the air and the water in Brazil. In 2003 he started a project to analyze the waters of Brazilian

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s and later started the Flying Rivers project.

Media relations

Gerard's expeditions have been covered by ''

'' on TV Globo and his projects have been covered by TV Câmara, National Geographic,

Estadão ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to berliner on October 17, 2021. It has ...

, and several newspapers, magazines and websites, both Brazilian and foreign.

Flying Rivers

In 2007, Gérard, together with renowned Brazilian scientists, started a research project to evaluate the water flow from clouds and the possibility of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

being caused by the deforestation of the

Amazon Forest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

. The project consists of acquiring water from the air to evaluate its origin and flow from the Amazon River to the south of the Americas. The project is part of a larger project called "Brasil das Águas" (Brazil of the Waters). According to Moss, the water flow carried by these flying rivers could equal that of the Amazon River itself since each tree can be responsible for 300 liters of atmospheric water per day. Between 2006 and 2007, seven Brazilian rivers were the target of studies ( Araguaia, Grande, Ribeira, Miranda, Ibicuí, Verde and Guaporé). In 2007, after collecting the samples, they started to compare them with the water vapors from the air. With the support of

University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...

and

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...

, they arrived at the conclusion that much of the water vapor comes from Amazonian rivers, creating a phenomenon termed " flying rivers".

Publications

Gerard and Margi have published several books reporting their experiences: * ''Asas Do Vento: A Primeira Volta Ao Mundo Num Motoplanador'' () * ''Volta Por Cima'' () * ''Freedom of the Skies'' () * ''Loucos por ti, América'' () * ''Extremos das Américas''