我们与我的向导埃尔顿·门德斯（Elton Mendes）一起出发，通过亚马逊丛林（Amazon Jungle）转向了一个受虐的皮卡。他从窗户伸出一只手，拉着一根绑在刮水器上的棍子，挤在挡风玻璃上。
短途车程后，他用一块混凝土板停在清理中。一个橙色的钢晶格从砌块上升起，消失在我头顶上方的树冠中。它被称为高塔，有充分的理由：在1,066英尺处 - 比埃菲尔铁塔高三英尺 - 它是南美最高的结构。它也是三塔科学综合体的核心 -亚马逊高塔天文台或Atto-位于亚马逊河最大的城市Manaus东北150英里处。
When fully outfitted, ATTO’s trio of towers will bristle with gas sniffers, particulate collectors, light sensors, and scores of other instruments that will continuously watch over the forest — and the air above it — for at least the next two to three decades. The Brazilian and German scientists overseeing research at ATTO say that the data collected by these instruments will provide an unprecedented portrait of the role that the Amazon jungle, the world’s largest rainforest, plays in the global carbon cycle — a key finding in an era of climate change. And by taking these measurements — including temperature, wind, greenhouse gases, ozone, radiation, visibility, tree canopy changes, soil temperatures, and soil gas fluxes — scientists will be able to track how global warming is affecting the Amazon, particularly its ability to absorb carbon.
自2010年以来，两座较短的260英尺塔位于距离高塔几百码处，一直在测量气体和其他大气组成部分，并研究了如何通过森林植被释放的细滴，气体和微小的颗粒大火和遥远城市的污染有助于亚马逊的云层和降雨的形成。
高大的塔本身还没有乐器，因为电梯和其他并发症的问题延迟了装备的安装。但是它很快就会运作，我受邀缩放塔楼，凝视着壮观的景色，并闻到了一阵微风，研究人员将从其巅峰之中进行研究。维护工人门德斯（Mendes）将指导我沿着细长的橙色和白色结构的1,500个步骤，该结构上升到原始丛林的广阔丛林之上。
亚马逊是美国几乎大小的地区，是迄今为止地球上最大的雨林。生物学家几十年来警告说，其巨大的生物多样性受到伐木的威胁。188金博网注册就送188
重要的是要了解亚马逊和其他热带森林吸收了多少二氧化碳。
But more recently, climate scientists have become concerned that global warming may also pose a danger to the forest, possibly by shifting oceanic and atmospheric currents in ways that could lead to a pronounced drying of the Amazon. Astudy last year建议在广阔的雨林中的树死亡率可能与天气变化有关，已经在降低其隔离碳的能力。
科学家大致了解碳如何流过亚马逊森林，因为光合作用过程将二氧化碳从大气中带走并将其变成植被。然后通过分解将叶子，木材和其他植物物质转移到土壤中，其中一些碳被释放回空中。但是，在科学家可以预测亚马逊的命运之前，他们需要对森林如何与大气相互作用进行更复杂的掌握。
One thing they’ll be looking at is what role the Amazon plays in the mystery of where all the carbon dioxide humans produce from burning fossil fuels is going. About half of that CO2 is soaked up, in roughly equal parts, by ocean water and terrestrial trees and plants. But Scott Denning, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University, says it’s important to understand how much CO2 is being absorbed in the Amazon and other tropical forests. If the Amazon does act as a net sink today, scientists want to know and for how long it will continue to do so.
Beginning in the late 1990s, researchers at the United Kingdom’s Met Office published a series of worrisome papers on the prospects for Amazonia in a warming world. Using computer models that link climate and vegetation, they found that by altering atmospheric circulation over the Atlantic Ocean, global warming could dry out much of the Amazon basin. They said that much of the forest could turn into savannah, putting at risk the region’s rich flora and fauna, and releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide. Newer studies have cast doubt on this cataclysmic scenario, saying that while the Amazon may not continue to support its current lush vegetation, some form of forest would remain.
Atto将在研究这些问题中发挥重要作用。该综合大楼由巴西和德国政府共同资助，每个政府在未来几年内贡献了建筑和运营成本的一半。德国马克斯·普朗克化学研究所和巴西几家研究机构，包括美国国家空间研究所和美国国家亚马逊研究所研究所，负责监督该项目。
Antonio Ocimar Manzi, a climate scientist at the space institute, is the lead Brazilian administrator of the ATTO project. The first time he stepped onto the Tall Tower’s top platform last year, he said he was overcome with emotion. “I saw the green ocean,” he said in a recent Skype call. “It was a dream of two decades.” He was perched atop the world’s tallest meteorological mast. It was meant to be 320 meters, or 1,050 feet, tall. But the builder had noticed that it was just shy of the height of the Eiffel Tower. At the builder’s suggestion, Manzi approved a new design — 325 meters tall — besting the Paris landmark by one meter.
Height matters, said Manzi. Instruments farther from the ground sample air that has been in contact with vegetation at greater distances, giving them a more comprehensive snapshot of regional forest conditions and the complex exchange of CO2 and other gases. Instruments mounted at the top of the tower will sense the photosynthetic activity of leaves over tens of square miles of canopy, an area many times greater than equipment on any other tower in the Amazon.
高大的塔楼的山顶暴露于从巴西大西洋海岸越过数百英里的丛林中越过数百英里的丛林。这些高海拔的风向它们经过的森林生产率提升了线索。通过比较Atto地点二氧化碳在空气中的浓度与海岸空气的浓度，研究人员将获得有关亚马逊大部分地区健康及其吸收二氧化碳量的信息。
高层塔将配备有启示剂和气体分析仪，这些方法将使用称为The The The The的过程，从森林地面远处进入二氧化碳的运动涡流技术。Researchers employ eddy flux measurements to identify sinks and sources of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, on towers around the world. A large number of inlet pipes will be secured to the tower at various heights. Gases and aerosols pumped from these sampling stations will flow into measurement devices operated inside climate-controlled laboratories fashioned from shipping containers and clustered at the base of the tower. About 50 Brazilian and 50 German researchers are already at work on a dozen experiments using the shorter towers, enduring the heat, humidity, and occasional threats from snakes or jaguars.
除了曼兹（Manzi），一些科学家和建筑工人之外，几乎没有人在高大的塔楼的山顶上。我将自己束缚在尼龙安全带上，并用腿和肩膀紧紧地束紧它。我绑在锁定肉钩大小的锁定登山帽子上，每只手一只。我将一只爪子钩在连接到上层建筑的钢电缆上，然后踏入开放的楼梯间。电缆像扶手一样沿着腰高的楼梯连续运行。
每10英尺左右，钻机将电缆固定在塔架上。在每个十字路口，我从紧固件下方取消了一个扣子，并用clank夹在上面。我总是被固定在上层建筑上，以确保，即使我可能会从塔楼的格子上滑落并悬挂，我也不会落在地面上。当我越来越高的方式时，森林逐渐消退，直到树冠看起来像西兰花的头。温度下降，风升起。
当我登上我的时候，巴西亚马逊研究所的研究科学家布鲁斯·尼尔森（Bruce Nelson）正在为一台螺栓固定在260英尺高的塔楼之一，几百码之外的摄像头。
尼尔森早些时候说：“当我第一次从上面看到森林时，我想也许你可以通过它们的颜色来识别树木。”他解释说，森林是鲜艳的夏鱼，单调橄榄和无数其他绿色色调的拼布。阴影代表了牙冠的不同年龄，而不是种类，这是他用来帮助调查控制森林生产力的影响的事实。
也来自耶鲁E360最近的亚马逊森林砍伐激增的背后
热带树通常每年每年更换叶子，但是亚马逊中的树木并非长期无叶，也不会同步代替冠。尼尔森和他的同事通过分析从阿托和其他地方的塔楼拍摄的照片来研究冠替换的模式，从而产生了延时系列。按时间顺序显示，图片显示了每个冠的序列相同的顺序：新的，明亮的叶子随着年龄的增长而变黑，然后掉落，为新的叶子铺平了道路。
这些图片显示，在森林最干燥的几个月里，很大一部分树木更新了冠。纳尔逊的同事已经证明了新冠的年轻叶子光合作用更具剧烈的光合作用。这意味着在最干燥时期，大量树木隔离最多的碳，这是违反直觉的结果。它证实了最近的其他研究表明，至少在短期内，森林可能有些弹性。
当我爬上高塔楼梯间的最后一次飞行时，我的小腿疼痛，变得不稳定。门德斯拍了一组自拍照。我躺在观察甲板的非滑倒地板上，考虑了黎明的天空和亮丽的土地。雾气蜿蜒穿过森林，夜间水分徘徊在河床和山谷中。
电子传感器将很快命令相同的远景。
主页图片由Susanne Benner/Max Planck化学研究所提供