ABRACOS Amazon Climate Study: Forest and Pasture Observations

ABRACOS data provides quality-controlled measurements from a collaborative UK-Brazil study monitoring Amazonian climate. The dataset covers five core topics—Micrometeorology, Climate, Carbon Dioxide and Water Vapor, Plant Physiology, and Soil Moisture—across three instrumented areas with different soils and deforestation densities. It was collected to understand the consequences of deforestation and to calibrate climate models, originally published on CD-ROMs by the UK Institute of Hydrology and Brazil's INPE.

Use Cases

• Calibrating General Circulation Model sub-models for Amazonian forest and pasture using micrometeorology and climate data.
• Comparing soil moisture and water vapor dynamics between primary forest and converted cattle pasture sites.
• Analyzing plant physiology responses to different dry season intensities across three instrumented areas.
• Studying the consequences of deforestation by examining paired site data for carbon dioxide flux and climate variables.

Strengths

• Data is quality controlled and integrated, originating from a documented Pre-LBA project.
• Covers five distinct study topics across three instrumented areas with paired forest-pasture sites for comparison.
• Designed specifically for the calibration and validation of climate models (GCMs).

Limitations

• Exact row counts, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, reporting both 1996-12-31 and 2026-03-12.

Provenance

Source

UK Institute of Hydrology and Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (Brazil), under the ABRACOS project.

Collection Method

Field measurements from automatic weather stations and soil moisture equipment installed in three Amazonian areas, supplemented by intensive study missions.

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03-12 22:33:07.288566

Geography

Three areas within the Amazon basin with different soils, dry season intensities, and deforestation densities.