IGAS project launched on Earth observations
The new IGAS collaborative project, now supported by EU's FP7, serves to establish in-service aircraft measurements as a distributed infrastructure for the European Commission’s Earth Observation Programme. IGAS brings together 13 partners in atmospheric research; it is coordinated at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry.
IGAS stands for IAGOS for the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) Atmospheric Service. IAGOS (In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System) is establishing a distributed infrastructure for long-term observations of atmospheric composition on a global scale from an initial fleet of 10-20 long-range in-service aircraft of internationally operating airlines. IAGOS will provide accurate, spatially highly-resolved in-situ observations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and reactive gases, as well as aerosol and cloud particles, in fact covering the essential climate variables for atmospheric composition as designated by the GCOS programme. With the CARIBIC container, operated aboard an in-service aircraft on a four flights per month basis as part of IAGOS, a much larger number of parameters are routinely available. This project aims to make these valuable in-situ measurements available to the Copernicus Atmospheric Service.