The Global Atmosphere Watch of the WMO (GAW)
| Data Access | Program Overview | GAWSIS GoogleEarth™ Portal |
The WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) includes the WMO Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network (BAPMoN) and the WMO Global Ozone Observing System (GO3OS), established respectively in the 1960s and in the 1950s.
The main objective of GAW is to provide data and information on the chemical composition and related physical characteristics of the atmosphere to assess trends, and effects on interactions with the oceans and the biosphere. Information is available from the WMO Secretariat in the form of annual reports on network status.
GAW Station Information data are available online through the GAW Station Information System (GAWSIS) and provide data from the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) World Data Centers for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG), World Ozone and UV Data Centre (WOUDC), World Radiation Data Center (WRDC), World Data Center for Aerosols (WDCA), and World Data enter for remote Sensing of the Atmosphere (WDC-RSAT). Data access to the individual World Data Center Databases is also available.
The Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC)
| Data Access | Information |
The international Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) is composed of more than 70 high-quality, remote-sensing research stations for observing and understanding the physical and chemical state of the stratosphere and upper troposphere and for assessing the impact of stratosphere changes on the underlying troposphere and on global climate. While the NDACC remains committed to monitoring changes in the stratosphere with an emphasis on the long-term evolution of the ozone layer, its priorities have broadened considerably to encompass issues such as the detection of trends in overall atmospheric composition and understanding their impacts on the stratosphere and troposphere, and establishing links between climate change and atmospheric composition. Following five years of planning, instrument design and implementation, the NDACC began network operations in January 1991. (from the NWS NDACC web site)
International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC)
The International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project, under joint sponsorship of the Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (CACGP) of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), was created in the late 1980s to address growing international concerns over rapid changes observed in Earth's atmosphere. (IGAC Science Plan & Implementation Strategy) More...
System d'Analyse par Observation (SAOZ)
| Data Access | Information | Metadata |
SAOZ is UV-Visible (300-650 nm) diode array spectrometer developed at the Service d’Aéronomie in the late 80’s for monitoring stratospheric ozone after the discovery of the ozone hole by Farman et al. in 1985. It is a diode array flat field spectrometer of 1 nm resolution looking at sunlight scattered at zenith during twilight. The data analysed by Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometry allow the retrieval of daily ozone and NO2 total columns at sunrise and sunset, as well as total water vapour and oxygen dimmer and the detection of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSC) and volcanic aerosols. The SAOZ global network is made up of 18 instruments co-located with NDSC measurement sites.
The Atmospheric Lifetime Experiment (ALE), the Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (GAGE), and the Advanced GAGE (AGAGE)
| Data Access | Information |
This is a continuing research network which measures trends of CFCs, CH4, N2O, CO, O3, HFCs, HCFCs, Br species, Halons, plus some short-lived species. NASA is the lead funding agency, with contributions from the UK, Australia, and others. Stations are located at Cape Grim, American Samoa, Barbados, and Mace Head.
NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL)
| Data Archive |
As of October 1, 2005, the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory has merged into the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) as part of its Global Monitoring Division (GMD)
GMD's mission is to observe and understand, through accurate, long-term records of atmospheric gases, aerosol particles, and solar radiation, the Earth's atmospheric system controlling climate forcing, ozone depletion and baseline air quality, in order to develop products that will advance global and regional environmental information and services.
Data provided are: Aerosols, Carbon Monoxide, Methane, Surface Ozone, Ozonesondes, Water Vapor, Station Meteorology, Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species, GMD Radiation, Atmospheric Transport and SURFRAD.
European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP)
| Data Access | Metadata |
EMEP is a scientifically based and policy driven programme under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution for international co-operation to solve transboundary air pollution problems such as acidification, eutrophication, ground level ozone, heavy metals, persistent organic compounds and atmospheric particles.
Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ)
| Data Archive | Metadata |
In recent years a number of methods have been developed for estimating tropical tropospheric ozone from satellites. Several are based on TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) instrument and the current Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). However, there is not a consistent verification data set from balloon-borne ozonesondes. A number of stations are operating in the southern hemisphere tropics and subtropics, but with differing frequency and reporting procedures. SHADOZ is designed to remedy this data discrepancy, by coordinating launches, supplying additional sondes in some cases, and by providing a central archive location. Data will be collected in a timely manner and made available through this website to the SHADOZ community, the Aura Validation Data Center (http://avdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) for on-going validation studies, as well as to the scientific community as a whole. Currently, twelve active sites are participating in SHADOZ. The sites are at Ascension Island; American Samoa; Fiji; Hilo, Hawaii, USA; Java, Indonesia; Malindi and Nairobi, Kenya; Natal, Brazil; Paramaribo, Surinam; La Réunion, France; San Cristóbal, Galapagos; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A future site is planned to include Ha Noi, Vietnam. Note that although the SHADOZ project initially planned to archive southern tropical stations, we have since included sorthern tropical sites. |
