Joint Brazilian/U.S. project to study rormation of rain in the Amazon rainforest

Using tethered balloons and instruments placed in towers, the GoAmazon team will study amounts and types of aerosols influencing the formation of clouds that produce torrential rains in the tropics. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Triggering rainfall in the Brazilian Amazon jungle is the focus of a Penn State/Brazilian project that is part of the GoAmazon program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and Brazilian agencies. Leading the investigation into rainfall is Marcelo Chamecki , assistant professor of meteorology , Penn State. On the Brazilian side, Antonio Manzi, researcher, National Institute for Research in the Amazon, and Celso von Randow, researcher, National Institute for Space Research, are the co-investigators. The GoAmazon program will take place this year near the city of Manaus, Brazil. Chamecki and his team will investigate "Bridging Land-Surface Fluxes and Aerosol Concentrations to Triggering Convective Rainfall" in the Amazonia region.