Tower in Amazon gathers data on climate change
Print Edition
DEEP in the pristine Amazon jungle, Brazil’s newest skyscraper has a mission unlike any other: to save the world.
The white and orange metal frame called the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) is a bold new tool in the push to understand climate change and the vital role of rainforests.
At 325 meters, the ATTO is a meter higher than the Eiffel Tower and a good bit taller than London’s loftiest building, the Shard.
But instead of the typical city din of honking horns and engines, the loudest noise around the skinny structure is the chatter of cicadas and tropical birds.
Built in the Uatuma nature reserve, 350 kilometers from the city of Manaus and reachable only after hours of rough roads and a boat ride, the ATTO is seriously remote — and for the climate scientists that’s the point.
“Being far from towns and man’s influence ensures we can collect relatively pure data,” said Meinrat Andrae, director of the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry, which is partnering with Brazilian research agency Inpa on the German-Brazilian funded project.
The Amazon is seen as a big piece of the global warming puzzle, since trees are a key weapon in safely capturing destructive carbon gasses. And at 3,000 kilometers wide, the Amazon is the greatest of all rainforests.
“Thanks to this tower we’ll be able to better understand the role of the Amazon, its effect on the local climate and also on the global climate,” said Antonio Ocimar Manzi, one of the Brazilian scientists.
Rising far above even the mightiest Amazonian trees, the tower is good place to swap the suffocating jungle heat for fresh air, as long as you don’t mind heights.
Greenhouse gas emissions have rocketed since the second half of the 20th century, dangerously warming the globe, according to most scientists.
Healthy forests are one of the best ways to absorb the gasses. But deforestation for lumber or farming, a major issue in the Amazon, is a major cause of the gasses, since the stored up CO2 is released from the dead tree into the atmosphere.
A worst case scenario predicted by some models foresees a vicious circle where global warming and drought kill so much of the Amazon that drought increases and the remains of the jungle became unsustainable, leading to even worse global warming.
“The Amazon region is of global significance: it produces half of the word’s oxygen, impacts the water cycle through evaporation and stabilizes the climate,” the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry said.
The goal is to have ATTO, which links up with two smaller towers of 50 and 80 meters, running for 20 to 30 years to allow a long term study of the effects of carbon gasses. Its great height will be a big improvement on previous methods.
“The 325 meters height allows the monitoring of an unprecedented atmospheric area of nearly 1,000 square kilometers,” the Brazilian government says.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
