ACTRIS POIR – Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure

The scope of the project includes retrofitting the European ACTRIS research infrastructure for aerosols, clouds and trace gases with the equipment needed to provide high-quality data on the so-called short-lived components of the atmosphere. It is planned to upgrade the existing research infrastructure and expand the research centres.

The implementation of the project consists in the acquisition of equipment that will allow research in the following research areas:

• Research on aerosols with remote sensing techniques
• In-situ aerosol testing and laboratory testing
• Cloud research with remote sensing techniques
• Mobile studies of atmospheric aerosols
• Modeling of atmospheric processes
• Research in the context of the integration of the ACTRIS infrastructure and the ICOS infrastructure
• Cross-domain research as a potential for R&D cooperation

Which will contribute to the implementation of the following research goals, among others:

• evaluation of the variability of physicochemical properties of aerosols in the boundary layer,
• development of a new model for reconstructing the daily mass of samples of the submicron fraction of atmospheric aerosol, taking into account the water contained in the aerosol and carbon speciation,
• investigating differences in cloud cover on a long-term scale using identical cloud radars at stations with different environments,
• improving the efficiency of renewable energy sources by using high quality solar radiation inflow data at different locations,
• optimising meteorological model settings by including new sources of meteorological and atmospheric data.

The project's target groups are scientists, policy makers, the private sector, funding organisations and the education sector. ACTRIS, in conjunction with the development of modelling techniques, can have a significant impact on the business sector by supporting areas related to risk management, environmental management and forecasting activities (ex-ante analysis). It can also support the implementation of environmental and energy policies at EU and national level.