ACTRIS Spain consists of 11 Spanish research organizations, including IDAEA-CSIC, and is supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. | Alejandro Rodríguez.
The Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) is part of ACTRIS, the scientific platform for atmospheric research that the European Commission has just established as the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds, and Trace Gases) enables scientists around the world to study short-lived atmospheric components and their interactions, enabling reliable weather forecasts ranging from weather and health alerts to short-term to long-term assessments of climate change.
The ACTRIS facilities, spread over more than 80 platforms around the world, constitute the largest international atmospheric research infrastructure. Every year, more than 5,000 users use ACTRIS data for their research. ACTRIS offers its users open access to instruments, technical knowledge, training opportunities, and data management services. The objective of ACTRIS is to increase excellence in Earth system research by providing knowledge to develop sustainable solutions to the needs of society.
“This decision means that the ACTRIS facilities can now legally operate together, as one organization,” says Eija Juurola, Acting Head of ACTRIS.
Spanish organizations participating in ACTRIS ERIC
Spain participates in ACTRIS ERIC through 11 research organizations supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The Atmospheric Monitoring Network from the Institute for Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC) is one of the entities, together with the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), the University of Granada, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), the Mediterranean Environmental Studies Center Foundation (CEAM), the Esteban Terradas National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), the University of Valladolid, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, the University of Valencia, and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Other agencies are collaborating and could join in the future.
Structure of ACTRIS ERIC
ACTRIS is structured into National Facilities, made up of observation platforms and exploratory platforms, and Central Facilities, essential for the supply of high-quality harmonized data, obtained both within Europe and at selected global locations, providing users with access to facilities pointers, well-characterized and versatile.
The observational platform in Montsec is a mountain site (1590 m.a.s.l.) integrated into ACTRIS to assess atmospheric aerosols.
The urban site is located within the IDAEA facilities in Barcelona and provides atmospheric data to ACTRIS.
The ACTRIS National Facilities are distributed throughout the 17 ACTRIS ERIC countries: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland. Greece and the United Kingdom have expressed interest in joining at a later stage.
Spain currently contributes to the ACTRIS National Facilities with observation platforms distributed throughout the peninsula and the Canary Islands (three ground-based aerosol remote sensing stations, one ground-based cloud remote sensing station, seven in situ aerosol measurement stations) and with an exploratory platform (atmospheric simulation chamber). It also participates in the Central Facilities of the Data Center and the Aerosol Remote Sensing Calibration Center (CARS).
