Global Earth Observation and Monitoring - GEOMON

Integrated Project within the sixth framework programme of the EC

The overall goal of the GEOMON project is to sustain and analyze European ground-based observations of atmospheric composition, complementary with satellite measurements, in order to quantify and understand the ongoing changes. GEOMON is a first step to build a future integrated pan-European Atmospheric Observing System dealing with systematic observations of long-lived greenhouse gases, reactive gases, aerosols, and stratospheric ozone. This will lay the foundations for a European contribution to GEOSS and optimize the European strategy of environmental monitoring in the field of atmospheric composition observations.

A system for atmospheric composition monitoring for climate applications must necessarily include capabilities for monitoring stratospheric variables that are strongly linked to the climate system. This is what Activity 4 of GEOMON is all about. Such a stratospheric monitoring capability is already prominently available in Europe via its contributions to the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC).

An instrument providing data to NDACC about the stratospheric distribution of water vapour is MIAWARA, the Middle Atmospheric Water Vapour Radiometer, operated by the Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bern in Switzerland. MIAWARA data will be available with a delay of one month at maximum through the GEOMON database. An updated overview of H2O profiles measured in the frame of GEOMON is shown below.