Welcome
Welcome to our website for ATTO, the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory – an Amazon research project.
This research site is located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, about 150 km north of Manaus. It is run together by scientists from Germany and Brazil. Its aim is to continuously record meteorological, chemical and biological data, such as the concentration of greenhouses gases. With the help of these data, we hope to gain insights into how the Amazon interacts with the overlying atmosphere and the soil below. Because this region is of such importance to the global climate, it is vital to get a better understanding of these complex processes. Only then will we be able to make more accurate climate predictions.
Have a look around on our website to learn more about the research performed at ATTO and in labs and offices around the world. Please note that the website is still under constructions and more content will be added. So be sure to check back soon! You can also follow us on Social Media to get an insight into the daily lives of the ATTO scientists and stay up-to-date on all the latest news and events!
News
New study by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry shows: The ratio of certain forest scent molecules provides precise insights into the stress state of the rainforest.
A new study by Robin et al. shows: tree growth strategies influence BVOC emissions in the Amazon, with surprising differences between isoprene and monoterpene producers.
New study highlights Amazon’s critical role in the Earth’s climate system, revealing that land-use changes and accelerating deforestation reduce biogenic trace gas emissions and impact atmospheric chemistry up to 12 km altitude.
The summer school Amazon Forests and Global Change is part of the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) project, which investigates forest functioning, biodiversity, forest-atmosphere interactions, and atmospheric chemistry and physics. Its objective is to offer scientific theory and methods to investigate forest functioning, biodiversity, and forest-atmosphere interactions in the context of global change, and takes place at INPA, Manaus and at ATTO Sep 19 – 29, 2025.
A new study by Robin et al. reveals that isoprene emissions are associated with mechanical or chemical defenses vary between the different leaf phenological types in the central Amazon rainforest.
Lange et al. analyzed dissolved organic matter (DOM) in terra firme and white sand soils in the Amazon to learn about the potential limitations of the important nutients phosphorous, nitrogen and sulfur in the different forest and soil types prevalent across the Amazon rainforest.
Blog: Voices from the Amazon
My name is Tarek S. El-Madany and I’m the new head of the Central Service Group “Field Experiments and Instrumentation” at MPI-BGC in Jena. I am taking over from Olaf Kolle, who will be retiring this year. I’m a trained landscape ecologist and specialized in micrometeorology.
Hello, everyone! My name is Carla Webber and I’m the new post-doc in the Cryptogamic communities group at the ATTO. I’m a biocrust researcher and have worked on this subject for more than ten years. Biocrusts taught me to be an interdisciplinary researcher.
I want one! This was the enthusiastic reaction of a Brazilian student after her first encounter with a scintillometer at the CloudRoots campaign in Amazonia. The scintillometer is indeed a special instrument that deserves admiration.
I am Subha and I like to call myself an interdisciplinary researcher. I did civil engineering for my bachelor’s degree, and for my master’s degree, I worked on the applications of remote sensing and GIS. Now I work full-time at Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz with a wonderful team led by Christopher Pöhlker.
My name is Stefanie Hildmann and I am currently a PhD student in the group ‘Organic Trace Analysis’ of Prof. Thorsten Hoffmann at the Johannes Gutenberg – University of Mainz (Germany). In my PhD, I want to characterize secondary organic aerosols (SOA) chemically at the molecular level.
Hi, my name is Viviana Horna. This April 2022 I started working at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry as the new scientific coordinator of the ATTO project. I studied tropical forestry in Peru for my BSc, where I am from.