The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a research infrastructure to quantify the greenhouse gas balance of Europe and adjacent regions. In November 2015 it received the international legal status of ERIC (

European Research Infrastructure Consortium A European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) is a full juridical person and a corporation under European Union law. With a membership of at least one European Union member state and two EU member or associated states, it has legal personalit ...

) by decision of the European Commission. It is recognized by The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) as a landmark European research infrastructure. It consists of a harmonized network of almost 150 long-term observation sites for the domains of atmosphere,

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s and

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

. The network is coordinated through its Head Office, the central data portal and central facilities including an atmosphere, ecosystem and ocean thematic center, and central analytical laboratories. ICOS provides the essential long-term observations required to understand the present state and predict future behavior of the global

carbon cycle The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major componen ...

and

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...

. It monitors and assesses the effectiveness of

carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. Carbon dioxide () is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes. These changes can be accelerated through changes in lan ...

and/or greenhouse gases emission reduction activities on global atmospheric composition levels, including attribution of sources and sinks by region and sector. The highly standardized network offers improved access to data and enables the development of flux products for research and political application. ICOS is a state-of-the-art facility for the European research community. It contributes to the European share of global greenhouse gas observations under

Group on Earth Observations The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) coordinates international efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). It links existing and planned Earth observation systems and supports the development of new ones in cases of p ...

(GEO),

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Intern ...

GAW Gaw or GAW may refer to: People * Gaw (surname), a Gaelic-language surname Places * Gaw, Myanmar, a town in Thandwe District, Rakhine State * Gaw Township, a township of Rakhine State Other uses * Game & Watch, electronic handheld games ...

and GCOS programs.

Mission and goals

ICOS consists of a network of standardized, long-term, high-precision integrated monitoring of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and fluxes. The infrastructure integrates terrestrial and atmospheric observations at various sites into a single, coherent, highly precise dataset. This data allows a unique regional top-down assessment of fluxes from atmospheric data, and a bottom-up assessment from ecosystem measurements and fossil fuel inventories. Target is a daily mapping of sources and sinks at scales down to about 10 km, as a basis for understanding the exchange processes between the atmosphere, the terrestrial surface and the

. ICOS contributes to the implementation of the Integrated Global Carbon Observation System IGCO.

Impact

The synergy between the atmospheric concentration measurements, the knowledge of local ecosystem fluxes on the other hand, has shown effective in reducing the uncertainties on carbon assessments. However, in Europe, observatories are all managed differently for each country and data is not homogeneously processed. The value added impact of the infrastructure allows an enhanced visibility and dissemination of European greenhouse gas data and products that are both long-term and carefully calibrated. ICOS meets the data needs of carbon cycle and climate researchers as well as those of politicians and the general public. ICOS serves as the backbone to users engaged in developing data assimilation models of greenhouse gas sources and sinks, namely reverse modelling, which allows the deduction of surface carbon flux pattern. A common data centre, the ICOS Carbon Portal, provides free access to all ICOS data, as well as to links with inventory data, and outreach material. This portal allows the production of web based tools for the survey of sources and sinks in near real-time. ICOS delivers the information in near real-time with a quantification of the uncertainty associated with the results due to the use of several different models using different methodologies. ICOS enables

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

to be a key global player for in-situ observations of greenhouse gases, data processing and user-friendly access to data products for validation of remote sensing products, scientific assessments, modelling and data assimilation.

Current status

ICOS has currently 13 member states and is in operational mode, with stations being certified for the operation according to the strict protocols and quality parameters. By the end of 2020 ICOS had 68 out of the 148 stations certified ('labelled' as either Class 1,2 or associated station), with greenhouse gas concentrations and fluxes determined on a routine basis. ICOS member states * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * {{Official, https://www.icos-ri.eu/
ICOS data portal
Greenhouse gases Greenhouse gas emissions Climatological research Climate change in Europe Climate change in the European Union Carbon European research networks European Union and science and technology