Scientists will simulate climate change in the Amazon to study its effects

What will happen to the amazon when CO2 levels in the atmosphere increase significantly in the coming decades? British and Brazilian scientists are building “carbon rings” in the largest tropical jungle to simulate the future and act on time.

A metal tower more than 35 meters high stands out among the leafy treetops in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, some 80 km north of Manaus, in northwestern Brazil.

Around it, 16 aluminum towers will be erected, arranged in the shape of a ring, to “pump” CO2 and transform this piece of the jungle into an experiment on the future of the planet.

The AmazonFACE project, co-financed by the governments of Brazil and the United Kingdom, is “an open-air laboratory that will allow us to understand how the forest will behave in the coming scenarios of climate change”explains Carlos Quesada, one of its coordinators, at the foot of the tower and wearing a protective helmet.

“How will the forest react to the increase in temperature, to the reduction in the availability of water, in a world with more carbon?”, adds Quesada, a researcher at the National Research Institute of the Amazon, of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Brazil.

“Window to the future”

FACE technology (Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment, enrichment of carbon dioxide in a free atmosphere), has already been used in forests in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, but never in a tropical forest.

By 2024, there will be six “carbon rings” pumping this gas -one of the causes of global warming- in a concentration between 40% and 50% higher than at present.

Over a period of ten years, the researchers will analyze the processes that occur in the leaves, roots, soil, water cycles, and nutrients.

“We will have more precise projections: on the one hand, on how the Amazon rainforest can help combat climate change with its ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere; and on the other, it will help us understand how the forest will be impacted by these changes”said David Lapola, a researcher at the University of Campinas, who is coordinating the project with Quesada.

Increased carbon in the atmosphere can lead to a “savannization” of the Amazon, with its vegetation adapted to a climate of higher temperatures and longer droughts.

But CO2 could also “fertilize” the forest and make it temporarily more resistant to these changes.

“This would be a scenario with a positive impact, at least for a while, which would be very valuable for implementing policies to eradicate emissions”says Quesada.

The project is “a window to the future: we will be able to open it and see what will happen in the next 30 years. And with that we gain time”Add.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has again urged ambitious action to counter global warming.

According to its latest report published in March, warming will already reach 1.5 °C compared to the pre-industrial era from the years 2030-2035.

A landmark study by researchers Thomas E. Lovejoy and Carlos Nobre, from 2018, argues that the Amazon will reach its point of no return towards the “savannization” due to another reason: deforestation, when it affects 20%-25% of its territory.

Currently it reaches 15%.

Brazil-United Kingdom cooperation

AmazonFACE, coordinated by Unicamp and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, has the cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Meteorological Service (MET office).

British Chancellor James Cleverly visited the facilities this week and announced a new contribution of 2 million pounds (US$2.4 million) to the project, which since 2021 has already received 7.3 million pounds from the United Kingdom (more than nine million dollars at current exchange).

Brazil, for its part, has invested 32 million reais (US$6.4 million).

Source: AFP