What is the added-value of ACTRIS?
Securing the pan-European coordination of ACTRIS in the long-term will first ensure optimized and cost-efficient use of resources invested by member states (in particular the Central Facilities) and the right level of collaboration, technology and data sharing with other RIs in the atmospheric domain. It will maintain European atmospheric science in the leading position globally, in particular enhancing its impact and involvement in WMO/GAW and other global programme activities. It will create new scientific knowledge for better understanding of the climate system and its complex climate-chemistry feedback mechanisms from surface to stratosphere. The specific features of ACTRIS (station footprint on regional or global scales, 4-D multi-instrumental observation system, high quality and standardization, secured data flow) are unique and will be used to support Copernicus towards implementation of the Atmospheric Monitoring services and future Climate services. It will complement the actual landscape of European infrastructure with a component that is crucially missing.
An ACTRIS lidar profile detecting the volcanic ash of Eyjafjallajokull eruption over Cabauw on 17 May 2010 between 4 and 6 km altitude.A small cloud appears at 1 km at about 19 UTC (colours are arbitrary units).
Securing the ACTRIS infrastructure in the long-term is required to go beyond the current state of services. The step towards pre-operational and operational use in atmospheric services can only be reached with a secured pan-European Research Infrastructure that will guarantee the return on investments. Expectations are high that ACTRIS products, once assimilated into models, will significantly improve prediction systems both at the global and the regional scales. Once implemented, ACTRIS will provide policy makers with new tools for validating the impact of regulation strategies or emission abatement policies by direct evaluation of atmospheric trends at regional/European scale. It will contribute to service development related to natural and anthropogenic hazards. Natural and man- made atmospheric hazards include, for instance, forest fires, sand-storms, dispersion of volcanic ash, etc. The role of Atmospheric Research Infrastructures during the 2010 volcanic crisis in Europe has been recognized at all levels. Since then, ACTRIS has established operational links with agencies in the various countries for atmospheric crisis management.