A wide range of indicators – from greenhouse gas and ozone levels, to air quality and the presence of aerosols (combinations of particles and gases) in the atmosphere – go into estimating how the Earth’s atmosphere has changed in recent years due to man-made and natural emissions. The MACC research team collected data from satellites as well as ground-based and airborne sensors and made it available to the scientific community and decision-makers, as well as key institutions such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The team developed a first-of-its-kind system to compile crucial data that gives those involved in climate and air quality policies a complete picture of weather and pollution trends.

“Climate science is very much about understanding and quantifying uncertainties that affect the different processes taking place on and around the Earth,” says MACC project coordinator Vincent-Henri Peuch of the United Kingdom-based European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

“To try to reduce these uncertainties,” explains Peuch, “we have developed ways to take advantage of different information sources about atmospheric composition. We utilise these sources and provide new data that is more comprehensive than individual data sets.”

“In particular,” adds Peuch, “estimates of the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere, and how they affect radiation and clouds, are particularly uncertain.” Because of their effect on sunlight, the level of aerosols in the atmosphere can also affect the efficiency of solar energy generators. According to Peuch, the MACC’s system for aerosol monitoring has proven beneficial to the solar energy industry.

Beyond man-made pollution, MACC’s system also monitors and measures natural sources of aerosols such as fires, volcanoes, and sand and dust storms.

Among the other sources covered, MACC’s system closely monitored yearly changes to the Antarctic and Arctic ozone layer, which helped in assessing the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances.

Thanks to the success of the MACC project, which ended in 2011, a follow-up project called MACC-II is scheduled to continue into 2014. MACC-II is further developing the system created by the MACC team and is expected to lead to the Copernicus Atmosphere Service, a building block of the EU’s Earth Observation Programme known as Copernicus. Currently, the MACC-II project provides the latest information on atmospheric conditions free of charge to a wide range of users.

As part of Copernicus, five satellites are scheduled to be launched, two of which will directly support the Copernicus Atmosphere Service.

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer - 16 September 2014