The German Contribution to the European Research Infrastructure ACTRIS

- Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research InfraStructure - 

Research Station Melpitz. Source: Tilo Arnhold, TROPOS

 

Objective

ACTRIS is the European research infrastructure for short-lived atmospheric constituents: Aerosols, reactive trace gases and clouds.

As part of the Earth Observing System, ACTRIS provides relevant measurement data and expertise to develop sustainable solutions for societal needs.

Currently, this mainly concerns the topics air quality and climate change.

AWIPEV-Base on Spitsbergen. Source: Christoph Ritter, AWI

 

Range of Services

ACTRIS provides open data on the spatiotemporal distribution of aerosols, reactive trace gases, and clouds. These are used to determine long-term trends, but also to study processes controlling the life cycles of these short-lived atmospheric constituents.

In addition, ACTRIS offers services in the form of training, consulting, or access to measurement stations, mobile platforms, simulation chambers, and calibration centers. These services are aimed not only at scientific users, but also at companies, authorities and political decision-makers.

FZJ Calibration Laboratory. Source: Ralf Tillman, FZJ

 

Organisation

ACTRIS is a distributed research infrastructure that has adopted the legal form of an ERIC.
Currently, more than 100 institutes participate, seated in 22 European countries.

On the European level, there are central facilities such as the head office, the data center or the six topical centers, which are also calibration centers.
On the national level there are the national facilities, which generate the measurement data and provide a large part of the services for users.

German Central Facilities
German National Facilities

ACTRIS is part of the ENVRI network of the European Environmental Research Infrastructures.

ACTRIS-D Consortium 2023. Source: Dr. Andreas Pohlmann