ATTO Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory
"ATTO" stands for Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory. The German-Brazilian joint project was launched in 2009 and is coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia. With a height of 300 meters the tower will extend the ground-level boundary layer, and will provide information taken from approximately 100 squarekilometers from the world´s largest forest area.
Green ocean surrounding the ATTO site (credit: Jorge Saturno, MPI-C).
Site
150 km northeast of Manaus, Brazil. Enough distance from the metropolis of Manaus in largely untouched woodland. In close vicinity of an approximate 80 meters high measuring tower, where already regular preliminary surveys referring weather conditions, ozone and CO2 volatile organic compounds and nitrogenous trace gases as well as aerosols have taken place since 2011.
The ATTO project is also contribution data to the GoAmazon 2014/15 initiative. In this context, the site is referenced to as T0a.
Coordination
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (Nationale Institute for Amanzon Research) INPA; Manaus, Brasilien
- Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (Universität des Staates Amazonas) UEA; Manaus, Brasilien
Research objectives
- Collect data on the influence of the vast, largely untouched rainforest on the climate
- Understand sources and sinks of greenhouse gases such as CO2, methane and N2O
- Investigate the formation of aerosols which is important for cloud formation
- Investigate the transport processes of air masses that take place over several hundred kilometers
All information will lead to models to make better statements about the atmosphere and our climate, especially with the point of view of "Global Climate Change". At the same time ATTO data can also be used as a basis for environmental regulations for sustainable development of the Amazon region.