The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory or ATTO (in Portuguese: ''Observatório de Torre Alta da Amazônia'') is a scientific research facility in the Amazon rainforest of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The site's infrastructure includes a tower that extends far above the forest

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

and two towers that allow researchers to collect samples from the soil surface to above the forest canopy. Additionally, there are container-labs, a base camp and nearby sites for studying vegetation and

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

processes. The tall research tower is one meter taller than the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nickname ...

and is currently the tallest structure in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. All towers are equipped with a broad range of instruments to measure chemical and physical properties of the

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. ...

, such as

greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), met ...

concentrations,

aerosol An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or anthropogenic. Examples of natural aerosols are fog or mist, dust, forest exudates, and geyser steam. Examples of ant ...

s and meteorological data.

Description

The observatory is a joint project between Germany and Brazil coordinated by the

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry is located in Jena, Germany. It was created in 1997, and moved into new buildings 2002. It is one of 80 institutes in the Max Planck Society (Max Planck Gesellschaft). Departments and research gro ...

on the German side and the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research, INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia) on the Brazilian side. Other major research partners include the

Max Planck Institute for Chemistry The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Otto Hahn Institute; german: Max Planck Institut für Chemie - Otto Hahn Institut) is a non-university research institute under the auspices of the Max Planck Society (German: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) in ...

and the

University of the State of Amazonas The Amazonas State University ( pt, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, UEA) is a Brazilian public university operated by the state of Amazonas, located in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. It was established in 2001 by a state law that turned the Univer ...

(UEA, Universidade do Estado do Amazonas), with over 20 research institutes and universities in Brazil, Germany and other countries participating. The initial building cost of 8.4 million Euros was shared about equally by the German and Brazil partners. The site is located remotely deep within the Amazon rainforest. The nearest large urban area is the city of Manaus in the state Amazonas, about southwest of the ATTO site. The towers are used to study the interactions between the forest and the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), met ...

es,

s and weather, among other data, are measured continuously as well as during field campaigns. They provide information about a roughly area of largely pristine rainforest. This is especially true during the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the se ...

when the direction brings mostly "clean" air to the site that resembles the pre-industrial atmosphere. During the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...

, the wind direction shifts and puts the ATTO site within the influence of Manaus and the "

arc of deforestation ARC may refer to: Business * Aircraft Radio Corporation, a major avionics manufacturer from the 1920s to the '50s * Airlines Reporting Corporation, an airline-owned company that provides ticket distribution, reporting, and settlement services * ...

" and

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...

is noticeable even here. ATTO's counterpart “ZOTTO” (

Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility The Zotino Tall Tower Observation Facility (ZOTTO) is a climatic research station in the Siberian taiga in the proximity of Zotino, Russia, established and operated by the Max Planck Society and the Sukachev Institute of Forest, it serves as a l ...

) is located in the

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

n Taiga of Russia.

Research objectives

The project aims to study large- and smaller scale processes, from how the forest and soil influence

greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), meth ...

, aerosols, air mixing and clouds, to soil chemistry,

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...

and

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...

. The main research questions are: • How does the Amazon forest interact with climate and the

water cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...

? • What is the role of the Amazon forest in the global cycles of greenhouse gases such as

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ear ...

, and

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

? • How do

volatile organic compound Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a ...

s emitted from vegetation and soils affect

atmospheric chemistry Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets is studied. It is a multidisciplinary approach of research and draws on environmental chemistry, physics, mete ...

and the formation of

s and

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

s? The project is also dedicated to the exploration of how the rainforest

biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...

responds to

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 variability and change, Climate change in a broader sense also includes ...

. According to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (

BMBF The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

), ATTO allows to reach new levels of measurements of the complex interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere. Furthermore, the research project will contribute to further our understanding of “climate-relevant chemical and physical processes over the Amazon” and thus create new principles for climate protection.

History

The project was launched in 2009. The two 80 m towers were operational by 2012. Building of the tall tower began in 2014 and was completed in 2015.

References

External links

*
Photo essay: Scientists build a tower as tall as the Chrysler building in the middle of the Amazon
PBS.org
Amazon Tall Tower Observatory
on

The Skyscraper Center The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States ...

At 1,066 Feet Above Rainforest, A View of the Changing Amazon
on Yale Environment 360 {{coord, 2.1430, S, 59.0010, W, source:wikidata, display=title Amazon basin Environmental research Buildings and structures in Amazonas (Brazilian state) Environment of Amazonas (Brazilian state) Guyed masts Observation towers Towers in Brazil Towers completed in 2015 2015 establishments in Brazil

Description

Research objectives

History

See also

References

External links