Jana Englert

Our research at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO), located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, investigates this ecosystem of critical importance for global carbon and water cycles, climate change, atmospheric chemistry, and biodiversity. Climate and land-use changes are threatening this ecosystem with uncertain outcomes, highlighting the need for in-depth and long-term observations.

The Amazon provides a rare opportunity to study aerosol properties in an almost pristine atmospheric state with minimal anthropogenic influence. In recent decades, significant progress has been made in unraveling the life cycle of Amazonian aerosols, including their complex dynamics and impacts. However, the identity and interplay of natural aerosol sources, especially for ultrafine particles, and their importance in the broader aerosol cycle remain poorly understood.

My PhD research focuses on the origin and composition of ultrafine aerosol particles (< 100 nm) in the Amazon rainforest. Therefore, I perform size-resolved aerosol flux measurements using the eddy covariance method to quantify biosphere-atmosphere particle exchange across seasons. This could help to assess the contribution of biogenic aerosol emissions and nutrient deposition to the forest ecosystem. In addition, I aim using X-ray microspectroscopy at the synchrotron BESSY II to analyze chemical composition of ultrafine particles.