Rainforest Recce
Geo Mission’s Head of Operations, Chip Cunliffe, has temporarily hung up his Arctic clothing and is opting for something a little more lightweight.
Chip is currently in Peru, on a 3 week recce for a rainforest project that Geo Mission will be running in 2012.
The expedition will involve a team of six explorers trekking on foot for ten weeks through 150 miles of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.
The scientific objective of the 2012 expedition is to undertake accurate rainforest biomass measurements in four different types of forest. The data regarding biomass (a term which refers to the plants and vegetation in a particular area of a rainforest) will provide a better understanding of how rainforests capture and store carbon. Rainforests play a substantial role in the global carbon cycle, making them the largest and most critical natural buffer against the potential effects of carbon-generated climate change.
It is estimated that:
- The earth’s rainforests capture more than 25% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere; and
- Rainforest deforestation now releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than the annual carbon emissions of the entire world’s transport sector.
Deforestation is currently continuing at a staggering rate which, if continued, will cause rainforests practically to disappear within the next 50 years.
As with Geo Mission’s Arctic Survey’s, the Rainforest Survey will be using state of the art technology. The team will be using an airborne radar system that captures 3D images of the forest structure.