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InGOS
The Jungfraujoch observatory in Switzerland — the highest atmospheric
observatory in Europe (3 571 m above sea level) © Shutterstock, 2012
Integrated non-CO2 Greenhouse gas Observation System
Carbon dioxide (CO2) tops the list of the long-lived greenhouse gases associated with climate change, contributing
nearly two thirds of the anthropogenic radiative forcing involved in the phenomenon. Other greenhouse gases, such
as methane, nitrous oxide and sulphur hexafluoride, account for the remainder, but their share is expected to grow in
the future. The InGOS project will boost Europe’s capacity to monitor these non-CO2 substances. It will integrate existing
infrastructures, promote access to these facilities, harmonise approaches, and develop new measurement techniques
and instrumentation.
A breath of fresh air for NCGHG monitoring
Non-CO2 greenhouse gases (NCGHGs) already play a significant
role in climate change, and further increases in the atmospheric
abundances of these substances are expected in the future.
How climate change itself will affect the concentrations of
these gases, for example as a result of variations in land use,
is currently unclear. Mitigation efforts, for which NCGHGs offer
ample scope, and increasing human activity will also affect
their concentrations.
InGOS aims to secure the data needed to establish the relevant
atmospheric concentrations, detect the spatial and temporal
distribution of emission sources, and document changes
resulting from policy efforts and feedback effects. To this end,
consistent and comparable observations are required, which
InGOS will streamline with a long-term perspective for a broad
range of gases: methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride,
halocarbons and hydrogen.
To meet this objective, the project partners intend to finetune and harmonise current measurement techniques as
well as quality assurance and control practices. They will, for
example, tackle a significant limitation in the current reporting
for NCGHGs: the lack of a common calibration scale.
Such advances will enhance the accuracy and comparability
of European observational data — both for the future and for
the past, as the partners will rectify historical measurements
accordingly. The team also plans to innovate, notably by
improving on current isotope and halocarbon measurement
techniques.
Tracing emissions to individual regions
Further effort will focus on securing the data needed to
take regional emissions estimates for the EU another step
ahead. ‘Top-down’ estimates are used to validate ‘bottomup’ inventories of national anthropogenic emissions. Regional
GHG measurements are required to resolve such inverse
modelling studies for individual regions, and InGOS strives
to extend the network of measurement sites to obtain them.
The consolidated ground-based observations will allow the
validation and calibration of satellite missions that probe the
atmosphere for some of the GHGs and, in this way, also permit
an accurate provision of flux information for under-sampled
regions that (only) the satellites can monitor.
InGOS builds on earlier projects designed to augment Europe’s
monitoring capacity, such as ‘Assessment of the European
terrestrial carbon balance’ (CarboEurope), ‘Marine carbon
sources and sinks assessment’ (CarboOcean), ‘Continuous
high-precision tall tower observations of greenhouse gases’
(CHIOTTO), ‘European network for atmospheric hydrogen
observations and studies’ (EuroHydros), ‘The nitrogen cycle
and its influence on the European greenhouse gas balance’
(NitroEurope) and ‘System for observation of greenhouse gases
Integrated non-CO2 Greenhouse gas Observation System
KI-30-11-391-EN-N
InGOS
in Europe’ (SOGE). It will integrate the dedicated networks set
up by these projects, with a view to subsequent alignment
with the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS).
Broadening the flow of data, knowledge
and visitors
InGOS is committed to supporting the wider scientific
community. A European NCGHG observation database will
be published on the project’s website, accessible not only to
scientists, but also to policymakers and to the general public.
The partners will also encourage researchers from other
countries to use key field stations and installations.
Project acronym: InGOS
Funding scheme (FP7): Integrating Activities (IA)
EU financial contribution: €8.00 million
EU project officer: Anna Maria Johansson
Duration: 48
Start date: 1 October 2011
Completion date: 30 September 2015
Partners:
Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland (NL)
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften (DE)
Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (CH)
Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (FR)
University of Bristol (GB)
University of East Anglia (GB)
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (DE)
Utrecht University (NL)
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (GB)
Universität Bremen (DE)
Helsingin Yliopisto (FI)
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DK)
University of Edinburgh (GB)
The F3 natural gas distribution platform in the North Sea is also equipped with
a GHG observatory run by the University of Groningen © P. de Boer
Joint Research Centre (EC)
Natural Environment Research Council (GB)
Ilmatieteen Laitos (FI)
Università degli Studi della Tuscia (IT)
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt-am-Main (DE)
Norsk Institutt for Luftforskning (NO)
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (DE)
Lunds Universitet (SE)
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (FR)
Met Office (GB)
Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza im. Stanisława Staszica w Krakowie (PL)
University of Leicester (GB)
Vereniging voor Christelijk Hoger Onderwijs, Wetenschappelijk
Onderzoek en Patientenzorg (NL)
Országos Meteorológiai Szolgálat (HU)
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (NL)
Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy w Poznaniu (PL)
Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften an der Universität Kiel (DE)
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
Universitetet i Bergen (NO)
Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek (NL)
Fundación Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (ES)
Coordinator: Alex Vermeulen,
[email protected]
Project webpage: http://www.ingos-infrastructure.eu
© European Union, June 2012 — Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged
ISBN 978-92-79-22587-1 / DOI 10.2777/51486
Eligible facilities include the six InGOS supersites as well as the
network’s calibration and isotope services. Access to a SkyArrow environmental research aircraft able to carry out eddy
covariance flux measurements of methane, carbon dioxide
and water will also be provided. The plane’s equipment
includes instrumentation for high-frequency measurements of
methane, a particularly advanced feature available to very few
other craft worldwide.