Last month I spent a week in the Amazon surrounded by gigantic lush green trees and the constant, noisy accompaniment of jungle creatures, writes Chantelle Burton – a Climate Scientist at the Met Office’s Hadley Centre.

I was lucky enough to participate in the ‘Amazonia and Climate Change Field Course’, hosted by National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Places on the trip were limited to 15 masters or PhD students, including 10 from Latin-America and five from the rest of the world.

Jungle home

On arrival, we set up home in a field station at the Cuieiras Biological Reserve, owned by INPA, 100km north of Manaus. Saying it was situated in the heart of the rainforest is no overstatement; we were a 90-minute drive from the nearest road and there was no phone or internet signal…