MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) – A high-rise observation tower will be built in Brazil to monitor climate change and its impacts on the Amazon's ecosystem, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Monday.
"The tower will help us answer innumerable questions related to global climate change," Paulo Artaxo, a project coordinator from the University of Sao Paulo was quoted as saying by the news agency.
"We will gain a better understanding of the role of the Amazon and other humid tropical areas in climate models," he added.
The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) will be equipped with technology to gather data monitoring effects of the atmosphere on the jungle, AFP reported. The 325 meter steel tower will collect data on heat, water, carbon dioxide, winds, cloud formation, carbon absorption and weather patterns.
The ATTO project run by Brazil's National institute of Amazonian Research and Germany's Max Planck Institute was launched seven years ago. The tower will stand far away from any settlement some 100 miles from Manaus, the capital of Amazonas.
The fragile Amazon rainforest ecosystem has hidden attributes that play a key role in reducing pollutant levels. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tropical forests exchange a significant amount of water and energy with the atmosphere and are thought to play a key role in controlling local and regional climates. The jungle's trees release water into the atmosphere and bodies of water influencing climate and ocean currents on a global level.
