Workshop on building research at the ATTO Tower

About 50 scientists of different nationalities gathered in Manaus (Brazil) for two days at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) to present their work related to the Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) and plan future joint research at the ATTO site to strengthen the scientific collaboration.

The workshop participants agreed to produce a new science plan that integrates research on energy, water, aerosols, and greenhouse gases exchange between the central Amazon forests and the atmosphere, and explores the role of volatile organics and trace gases on cloud formation and atmospheric chemistry. Over the next 20 years, ATTO scientists will provide new understanding of the role of the Amazon forest in the global climate system and its response to changing climate.

Dr. Carlos Alberto Quesada from INPA was introduced at the meeting as the new coordinator of the ATTO project on the Brazilian side. He sees the need of a training and education program with the objective of creating a new generation of researchers.

Prof. Susan Trumbore, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, has taken over the project coordination on the German side, led until mid-2017 by Jürgen Kesselmeier from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. She hopes to improve integration between the participating countries as well as the different scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry and biology.

In 2009, a joint German-Brazilian project was started under the name “ATTO,” the Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory with the aim of providing groundbreaking findings and foundations for improving climate models. With a height of 325 meters, the tall tower operates since 2015 high above the rainforest and collects information on forest-atmosphere exchange from an area of several hundreds of square kilometers. It is located at the center of the world’s largest continuous tropical forest area. The tower is equipped with devices to measure various greenhouse gases, reactive trace gases, and aerosols as well as micrometeorological data. ATTO is with its tall tower, the associated research infrastructure and nearby scientific plots a unique interdisciplinary scientific platform in a region of global significance. Amazon forests are responsible for nearly 15% of global photosynthesis and contain 40% of living biomass . They have an enormous influence on the water cycle and regional as well as the global climate.

Contact:
Prof. Susan E. Trumbore, PhD
Managing Director, ATTO Coordinator Germany
Phone:+49 3641 57 6110
Email:trumbore@bgc-jena.mpg.de

Dr. Jošt V. Lavrič
Phone:+49 3641 57 63 68
Email:jlavric@bgc-jena.mpg.de