El Arenosillo Atmospheric Sounding Station
The National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA) is the Public Research Organisation of the Ministry of Defence. INTA, within the General Subdirectorate of Space Systems, promotes, among other lines, Earth observation, remote sensing and atmospheric research, through the Dept. of Earth Observation and Space Sciences. The research and service lines related to the generation of knowledge in the field of the physics-chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere are the responsibility of the Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Area (AIIA), which manages the El Arenosillo Atmospheric Sounding Station (ESAt - El Arenosillo).
The ESAt - El Arenosillo is an observatory dedicated to atmospheric research located in a protected rural environment, the Doñana National Park, in the westernmost sector of the European continent (Mazagón, Huelva), 1 km from the Atlantic Ocean and not far from the Mediterranean Sea and the North African coast. The lines of research focus on the characterisation of the ionosphere and solar radiation, the study of the variability of the chemical composition of the atmosphere with special emphasis on greenhouse gases, reactive gases, stratospheric ozone, and various microphysical, optical and chemical properties of atmospheric particles. It also provides access to national and international researchers seeking answers to the challenges posed by climate and air quality in the Earth System from a global perspective.
The main singularities of the ESAt-El Arenosillo are:
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- a unique site for atmospheric observation and research from the lower troposphere to the ionosphere,
- the various facilities available to the user such as the In-situ Climate and Air Quality Laboratory (ISLA), the Radiometric Calibration Laboratory, the intercomparison platform, the 100 m tower, and various remotely piloted aerial platforms,
- the variety in equipment and scientific knowledge that combines measurement techniques such as in-situ surface and passive and active remote sensing techniques, and operate under consolidated monitoring networks such as NASA/AERONET, NASA/MPLNet, NOAA/FAN, EUBREWNET, etc.
- an established network of users accessing its data and infrastructure on a regular basis, a network that is always growing,
- participation in ERIC networks (European Research Infrastructure Consortia) of the ESFRI programme (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) as ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) and ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System),
- participation as a transnational access platform in H2020-INFRAIA and HORIZON-INFRA funded projects such as ATMO-ACCESS (Solutions for Sustainable Access to Atmospheric Research Facilities, Grant Agreement 101008004, https://www.atmo-access.eu) and IRISCC (Integrated Research Infrastructure Services for Climate Change Risks, Grant Agreement 101131261, https://www.iriscc.eu ).
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