Ecological, Global Change Studies in the Amazon Rainforest

A new field research facility in the Amazon rainforest sponsored by NASA and the Brazilian government was completed in June 2000 as part of an experiment to study the region's impact on global change and develop information for sustainable resource management solutions. First-of-a-kind experiments on the impact of logging on tropical ecosystems will be among the studies conducted at the facility. Over 150 scientists and students from Brazil, the United States, Europe, and several South American countries are involved in research at the facility.

The studies are part of the Brazilian-led "Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia" (LBA), a multi-year project that integrates meteorological, hydrological, ecological and land use research across the Amazon. In addition to the more than 30 ecological projects being funded by NASA, LBA includes extensive research on the meteorology and hydrology of the region.

An instrumented "flux" tower (left) and a walk-up canopy tower at the new facility in Santarém, Brazil.

Contact:
Cynthia O'Carroll, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Office of Public Affairs, Greenbelt, Md., (301) 614-5563; Cynthia.M.OCarroll.1@gsfc.nasa.gov

Science Goals:
Tower and ground-based measurements will capture the entire cycle of water, nutrients, and carbon moving in and out of the Amazon ecosystem. This data will help scientists understand why the vast region appears to fluctuate between being a net source of carbon to the atmosphere and a net sink for atmospheric carbon.

In addition to research in the biological and physical sciences, LBA sponsors social science research into the reasons for and effects of human land-use decisions in the region. Ongoing surveys of land owners and land managers are being conducted to investigate how individual decision-makers are affecting the forest and, in turn, how their decisions are influenced by natural changes in the forest brought on by such phenomenon as El Nino.

Using data from field work and observations from space by Landsat 7, Terra, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), LBA scientists will produce an integrated analysis of the complex processes that drive this massive ecosystem. This analysis will be used to study potential future scenarios for the Amazon.

Infrastructure:
Santarém is the main LBA ecological field site for NASA-sponsored investigations, joining a network of nine other sites in different parts of the Amazon. The main field station is in an area of primary, or undisturbed, forest in the Tapaj�s National Forest where measurements will be made on the ground and from a 150-foot (45-meter) walk-up tower into the forest canopy and a 210-foot (65-meter) instrumented tower that reaches above the canopy.

Another field station in the national forest with similar instruments will monitor the forest in its undisturbed state and after it is logged next year so scientists can study how the forest recovers. A third site outside the forest will monitor carbon and water exchanges in a pasture. With data from all these sites, scientists will make the first three-way comparison of carbon, trace gases, water, and energy exchanges from pristine tropical forests, logged forests, and pasture land.

Location and Schedule:
The facility is near the Amazon River city of Santar�m in the northern Brazilian state of Par�. New laboratories in Santar�m and three field stations south of the city make up the facility, which is sponsored by NASA and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources. Extensive ecological field studies will be conducted throughout the summer during the region's dry season.

Sponsors:
LBA is organized by the Brazilian Institute for Space Research with participation by programs from many other nations and NASA's Land Cover and Land Use Change, Hydrology, and Terrestrial Ecology programs and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. NASA is working collaboratively on LBA projects with the Brazilian Institute for Space Research, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources, the Brazilian Enterprise for Research in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, the Brazilian Institute for Amazonian Research, and many Brazilian universities.

Web Sites:
LBA Home Page (Brazil)

LBA-Ecology Project Office (NASA Goddard)