Integrated Carbon Observation System
| Abbreviation | ICOS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2008 |
| Type | Research infrastructure |
| Purpose | Greenhouse gases |
| Website | Integrated Carbon Observation System |
Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a new strategic research infrastructure to quantify the greenhouse gas balance in Europe and adjacent regions. It consists of a harmonized network of ecosystem long-term observation sites, a network of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration sites and a network of ocean observations. The network will be coordinated through a set of central facilities, including an atmospheric and an ecosystem thematic center, a central data center, an analytical laboratory and an oceanic thematic center.
ICOS will provide the essential long-term observations required to understand the present state and predict future behavior of the global carbon cycle and greenhouse gas emissions. It will monitor and assess the effectiveness of carbon sequestration and/or greenhouse gases emission reduction activities on global atmospheric composition levels, including attribution of sources and sinks by region and sector.
Standardized network will improved access to data and enable the development of flux products for research and political application. ICOS will be a state-of-the-art facility for the European research community. It will contribute the European share to global greenhouse gas observations under GEO, WMO-GAW and GTOS programs.
ICOS aims to build a network of standardized, long-term, high precision integrated monitoring of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The infrastructure will integrate terrestrial and atmospheric observations at various sites into a single, coherent, highly precise dataset. These data will allow 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 ocean. ICOS contributes to the implementation of the Integrated Global Carbon Observation System (IGCO).
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