NASA Planes to Participate in Amazon Global Warming Study

Title: NASA Planes to Participate in Amazon Global Warming Study
Source: Agence France-Presse
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 1/9/99

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 9 (AFP) - NASA planes were to arrive in Brazil this
weekend to take part in a project to study the biosphere over the Amazon,
US officials said.

The aircraft were to take part in a six-year study examining the
relationship between the vegetation and the atmosphere and what impact the
forest has on global warming.

Scientists also were to collect information using satellites and 15 towers
equipped with sensors as part of the 100-million-dollar project.

At one point the Amazon was considered as one of the planet's "lungs"
because of the quantity of carbon dioxide absorbed by its plants during
photosynthesis.

But now there are indications that if more carbon dioxide is produced than
the forest can absorb, a reverse procedure occurs in plants called "the
hothouse effect" that prevents the planet from cooling down.

Some environmentalists even argue that the jungle may be the source of
carbon dioxide when the El Nino weather system is active because the lack
of humidity prevents plants photosynthesizing.

Brazilian environmentalists disagree and hope that this research project
will clarify the issue, in addition to improving nderstanding of the
jungle.

The project will use ER-2 planes, similar to the US spy U-2 planes, which
fly at a level of 17 kilometers (10 miles) of altitude.

Brazil, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United
States are sponsoring the research.