Amazon Tall Tower Observatory
The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory or ATTO (in Portuguese: Observatório de Torre Alta da Amazônia) is a scientific research tower in the Amazon rainforest with a height of 325 metres (1,066 ft).[1] The site is distant from any human presence, about 150 kilometres northeast of Manaus.[2]
The tower, South America's tallest structure,[3] is used to study the climate in the largely untouched rainforest surrounding it. It measures greenhouse gases, aerosols and weather data and provides information about a roughly 100 square kilometer area around the tower.
The project, a collaboration of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia in Manaus, and the Universidade do Estado do Amazonas in Manaus, was started in 2009. Building of the tower began in 2014 and was completed in 2015. The cost of 8.4 million Euros was shared about equally by the German and Brazil partners.[2]
References
- ^ "Brazil builds giant Amazon observation tower". bbc.com. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Factsheet ATTO". Retrieved 15 January 2015.
- ^ "Amazon Tall Tower Observatory gives scientists the big picture of the rainforest". The Independent. 17 May 2015.