Brazil to build giant observation tower in Amazon to monitor ecosystem

Brazil is building a giant observation tower in the heart of the Amazon to monitor climate change and its impact on the region's sensitive ecosystem, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) is a project of Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research and Germany's Max Planck Institute, O Estado de Sao Paulo said.

The tower, which will rise 325 meters (over 1,000 feet) from the ground, will be equipped with high-tech instruments and an observatory to monitor relationships between the jungle and the atmosphere.

It will gather data on heat, water, carbon gas, winds, cloud formation, carbon absorption and weather patterns.

The ATTO project has been seven years in the making, with a site finally being selected far from any human presence, about 100 miles (170 kilometers) from Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas, project coordinator Antonio Manzi told the newspaper.

The steel structure has been transported to the site on trucks and rafts from southern Brazil, nearly 2,500 miles away.

The Amazon jungle is one of the world's most sensitive ecosystems, with a powerful influence on the atmospheric release or intake of carbon.

"The tower will help us answer innumerable questions related to global climate change," said Paulo Artaxo, a project coordinator from the University of Sao Paulo.

"We will gain a better understanding of the role of the Amazon and other humid tropical areas in climate models."