Amazon Research Raises Tough QuestionsFebruary 4th, 2008 By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer in Earth / Environment
Researcher Julio Tota stands on a steel tower that is used to monitor the weather in the dense Amazon rainforest near the northern city of Manaus, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. New studies suggest the Amazon may be approaching a tipping point, at which the drier conditions caused by deforestation will reduce rainfall enough to transform the humid tropical forest into a giant savanna. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
(AP) -- Julio Tota stood atop a 195-foot steel tower in the heart of the Amazon rain forest, watching "rivers of air" flowing over an unbroken green canopy that stretched as far as the eye could see. These billows of fog showed researcher Tota how greenhouse gases emitted by decaying organic material on the forest floor don't rise straight into the atmosphere, as scientists had supposed.
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"Amazon Research Raises Tough Questions." February 4th, 2008. http://phys.org/news121327355.html