Long term continuous high-precision greenhouse gas observation at the ATTO fieldsite: an overview

The ATTO (Amazon Tall Tower Observatory) research site is located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil, about 150 km north of Manaus. The long-term, continuous and high-quality observation of greenhouse gases and their isotopic composition is one of the main goals of the ATTO project. The measurement of the gases CO₂, CH4, H₂O and CO started in 2012 at the 80 m walk up tower, recording at five different heights: 79m, 53m, 38m, 24m, and 4m. Measurements were performed by the Picarro instruments G1301 (CO₂, CH₄, H₂O) and G1302 (CO₂, CO, H₂O), succeeded by the G2401 (CO₂, CH₄, CO, H₂O). In addition, in 2022, observations at the 80 m walk up tower were complemented by the measurement of OCS (Aerodyne TILDAS) and the isotopic composition of CO₂ and CH₄ (Picarro G2201-i). Continuous greenhouse gas observations at the 325 m ATTO tall tower started in 2022 with the installation of the Spectronus FTIR-analyzer (CO₂, CH₄, CO, N₂O, δ¹³CO₂), measuring the heights 321m, 273m, 150m, 81m, 42m, and 4m. Past and current measurement setups are compliant to the guidelines of the international observation network GAW/WMO. In addition, observations are done at high-frequency (<=1 hour) so that diurnal cycles at multiple heights can be studied.

This poster will provide an overview of the past and current continuous greenhouse gas observation set up, will outline the specifications of each of the instruments, and show the main findings of 12 years of continuous greenhouse gas observation at ATTO.