European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 18, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse The mighty Amazon sweeps Ovara Waterfall near Mannas Brazil. Scientists have been studying the chemistry of the world s Large tropical Forest which surrounds the River. Watching the Forest breathe by Marlise Simons new York times shortly after Dawn the old Electra Turboprop climbed above the Amazon River neat Managua Brazil nudged in rough plumes and layers of steam. Ihnn humped along just 500 feet above the Jungle canopy. On Board a Phalanx of scientists started probing the breath of Tho Forest. Laser beams shot through openings or the fool and floor of the aircraft measuring gases Al different Levels. Thin pipes sucked samples of air into Gas detectors. Below a network of investigators in weather stations towers and ships examined the Forest soil and water and the gases emerging from the Lush ecosystem. The scientists from the United slates and Brazil. Were part of the most ambitious expedition Ever mounted to study the chemistry of the tropical Forest and atmosphere. This research is part of a worldwide pro Cal sponsored by Nasa that Aims to quantify the contribution of the Earth s living systems to key compounds in the atmosphere compounds that in turn help regulate climate and Lite to understand the Earlh s chemistry it is essential to couple the Forest to the atmosphere said Robert j Meneal. A Nasa scientist who is a manager at the global research project there in the world s largest tropical foes the key questions include just How much does the Loreski produce and consume of a Host of gases and particles that play import land roles in the atmosphere1 what is Tho global Impact of the intense tropical storms that constantly mix and turn out these compounds pushing some up Mlo the upper atmosphere and pulling others Down to Tho jungle7 How does the vast rain Forest influence Levels of gases that May contribute to global warming or thai destroy the stratospheric Ozone Hal Shields the Earth from ultraviolet radiation Many of the elemental cycles of the Forest water and air Arak Nonina general Way. Trie giant Trees of the rain lorent or example absorb Carton dioxide which can be transformed into Ozone destroyers in Tho upper atmosphere. At the same time the Forest vegetation itself destroys Ozone near the ground where it is a pollutant. But the exact quantities of these and Many other compounds the Forest exchanges with the atmosphere Are unknown. The existing models Are based on Guesswork and Small scale experiments said Mcneal. The Amazon expedition conducted with Brazil s National Institute of space research is one of the Early phases of Nasa s global tropospheric Experiment. Nasa has conducted two expeditions in the Amazon and another in Barbados work will begin next on the arc lie Tundra and Over the equatorial Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Nasa also Hopes to extend its program to China to measure the High methane emissions Over the country s extensive Rice paddies and the Impact of the Gobi s dust storms Industrial activities Are producing Carbon diodes i hings simply hog Rod Down when no Bulldozer could to found to move heavy gear up the mud roads Between Field trips and flights the experimenters compared notes in Iho heart of the Amazon Basin a place Oliero heal and humidity cling to everything like a Sheen of Oil in rooms kill of computers and maps Shore were daily meetings with who received Sale lilo pictures of the rain Forcel every 3d minutes from Nasa offices in Langley. A we Are iry Inq to Sec How the whole clockwork functions said Meinrath Andreae of Florida slate University there Are wheels within wheels in a very Complex mechanism and Only by scrutinizing All Tho parts can we understand the scientists will to interpreting their data for months bul some Felt Hoy had already gained significant insights. Differences Between the wet and the dry season Lor example have proved so great that existing studies based largely on the dry months Aie now seen As misleading. At one Forest Sito Northwest of manaus tests Wco in Progress 24 hours a Day free flying balloons carrying instruments and a radio transmit Tor were launched every three hours to Register Ozone temperature Moss lure tethered balloons hovered Al 500 maters 1,640 feel and 1,500 maters 4,950 Leet. Sometimes dancing wildly in the wind. Instruments on the ground and up on towers monitored the breath of the Jungle Day and night Asil came off the mud. The debris the living Loesl and then Rose up through the canopy. A lands do extremely weird things they throw Oil gases and shed particles from their leaves that Are one thousandth of a i Chmeler in size said Paulo Cartaxo a brazilian nuclear physicist who examines such particles or aerosols in a nuclear accelerator. These Plant aerosols Are made of Polas spurn. Phosphorus Calcium Sulur and Chloride. We want to know How they Are generated change gel into the rain. Because the Amazon is so big it throws ions of hese into the nitrous oxide is an import land Gas influencing the Ozone layer in the stratosphere Steven Wofsy of Harvard University said. We found the emissions in the Ocean and the North can hemisphere to be very Small. They Are very substantial bul to infer the Forest s total emissions he said would be complicated. Heavy sins have a great effect on the soil he said. We found the emissions shut Down and could take Days to come Back up in the silent understory. A slender Metal Structure holding up a solar panel and a radio transmitter incongruously competed for Light with Trees 30 meters High. This is beaming climate Dala. First up Loa satellite then to Boulder. Colorado a
