Abstract
The Amazon Basin plays key roles in the carbon and water cycles, climate change, atmospheric chemistry, and biodiversity. It has already been changed significantly by human activities, and more pervasive change is expected to occur in the coming decades. It is therefore essential to establish long-term measurement sites that provide a baseline record of present-day climatic, biogeochemical, and atmospheric conditions and that will be operated over coming decades to monitor change in the Amazon region, as human perturbations increase in the future. The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) has been set up in a pristine rain forest region in the central Amazon Basin, about 150 km northeast of the city of Manaus. Two 80 m towers have been operated at the site since 2012, and a 325 m tower is nearing completion in mid-2015. An ecological survey including a biodiversity assessment has been conducted in the forest region surrounding the site. Measurements of micrometeorological and atmospheric chemical variables were initiated in 2012, and their range has continued to broaden over the last few years. The meteorological and micrometeorological measurements include temperature and wind profiles, precipitation, water and energy fluxes, turbulence components, soil temperature profiles and soil heat fluxes, radiation fluxes, and visibility. A tree has been instrumented to measure stem profiles of temperature, light intensity, and water content in cryptogamic covers. The trace gas measurements comprise continuous monitoring of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ozone at five to eight different heights, complemented by a variety of additional species measured during intensive campaigns (e.g., VOC, NO, NO2, and OH reactivity). Aerosol optical, microphysical, and chemical measurements are being made above the canopy as well as in the canopy space. They include aerosol light scattering and absorption, fluorescence, number and volume size distributions, chemical composition, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, and hygroscopicity. In this paper, we discuss the scientific context of the ATTO observatory and present an overview of results from ecological, meteorological, and chemical pilot studies at the ATTO site.
Citation
@article{Andreae2015,
author = {Andreae, M O and Acevedo, O C and Araùjo, A. and Artaxo, P and Barbosa, C. G. G. and Barbosa, H M J and Brito, J and Carbone, S and Chi, X and Cintra, B B L and da Silva, N. F. and Dias, N L and Dias-Júnior, C. Q. and Ditas, F and Ditz, R and Godoi, A. F. L. and Godoi, R H M and Heimann, M and Hoffmann, T and Kesselmeier, J and Könemann, T. and Krüger, M. L. and Lavric, J V and Manzi, A O and Lopes, A P and Martins, D L and Mikhailov, E F and Moran-Zuloaga, D. and Nelson, B W and Nölscher, A. C. and Santos Nogueira, D. and Piedade, M T F and Pöhlker, C. and Pöschl, U. and Quesada, C A and Rizzo, L V and Ro, C.-U. and Ruckteschler, N and Sá, L. D. A. and de Oliveira Sá, M. and Sales, C B and dos Santos, R. M. N. and Saturno, J and Schöngart, J. and Sörgel, M. and de Souza, C. M. and de Souza, R. A. F. and Su, H and Targhetta, N and Tóta, J. and Trebs, I and Trumbore, S and van Eijck, A. and Walter, D and Wang, Z and Weber, B and Williams, J and Winderlich, J and Wittmann, F and Wolff, S and Yáñez-Serrano, A. M.},
doi = {10.5194/acp-15-10723-2015},
issn = {1680-7324},
journal = {Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics},
keywords = {ATTO,Amazon},
month = {sep},
number = {18},
pages = {10723--10776},
title = {The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO): Overview of pilot measurements on ecosystem ecology, meteorology, trace gases, and aerosols},
url = {http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/15/10723/2015/},
volume = {15},
year = {2015}
}