Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NUBICOS (New Users for a Better ICOS)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-12-31
The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a fully operational European Landmark research infrastructure providing standardised high-precision observations on greenhouse gases and their fluxes. The ICOS infrastructure is currently covering 16 countries with 180 stations. ICOS is a distributed research infrastructure which works with different components of carbon cycle in three domains: Atmosphere, ecosystem and oceans,
In this project, we work with new users for ICOS data from satellite and modeling communities and prepare products for policymakers. We are improving sustainability of ICOS by streamlining the data pipelines and strengthening the community engagement including new members. In addition to data, ICOS is producing protocols and processes. There is an increasing demand for practical guidance material and quantified uncertainty assessment, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is implementing the global greenhouse gases watch (GGGW) initiative. Our results are exploited in currently underobserved areas, thus strengthening the European leadership.
Specific objectives of the project
1. Improved data quality and utilisation of data through tighter collaboration with the remote sensing community, thus consolidating the global GHG and EU RI landscape;
2. Improved value generation from observations to climate services through targeted evolution of ICOS;
3. Increased efficiency of ICOS through strengthened national nodes and improved staff skills;
4. Integration of ICOS into the global innovation ecosystem of environmental monitoring through intensified cooperation with the WMO framework.
In this project, we work with new users for ICOS data from satellite and modeling communities and prepare products for policymakers. We are improving sustainability of ICOS by streamlining the data pipelines and strengthening the community engagement including new members. In addition to data, ICOS is producing protocols and processes. There is an increasing demand for practical guidance material and quantified uncertainty assessment, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is implementing the global greenhouse gases watch (GGGW) initiative. Our results are exploited in currently underobserved areas, thus strengthening the European leadership.
Specific objectives of the project
1. Improved data quality and utilisation of data through tighter collaboration with the remote sensing community, thus consolidating the global GHG and EU RI landscape;
2. Improved value generation from observations to climate services through targeted evolution of ICOS;
3. Increased efficiency of ICOS through strengthened national nodes and improved staff skills;
4. Integration of ICOS into the global innovation ecosystem of environmental monitoring through intensified cooperation with the WMO framework.
Using the numbering of objectives above, the main achievements of first reporting period are:
O1: tighter collaboration with the remote sensing community
Installing sensors used to measure Land-Surface Temperature (LST) and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) were successfully carried out. Both variables are recognised by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) as Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), a list of parameters for describing the Earth’s changing climate. These parameters are used by the remote sensing community for calibration and validation (cal/val) of satellite measurements. Another improvement towards remote sensing community was the work done within the framework of NUBICOS to automate the tasks of processing and quality control of total column measurements of CO2, CH₄, CO, and H2O using EM27/SUN spectrometers.
O2: Improving the value chain from observations to climate services
Development and release of the ICOS secondary quality control interface and quality assurance routine for QuinCe, a data reduction and quality control software initially developed to take care of observations of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and ancillary data. The QuinCe tool is being taken up by an increasing number of ICOS Ocean Principal Investigators (PIs) and is also making its way to users outside ICOS. The toolhas eased delivery of data to ICOS Carbon Portal and other data repositories such as SOCAT. These CO2 data represent an important contribution to the Global Carbon Budget.
Data streams in ICOS have been also significantly improved with a European ObsPack software package which quality control, merge, harmonise, and homogenise data sent to WMO WDCGG (World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases). This improved data pipeline is important for increasing the visibility of ICOS data.
O3: strengthened national nodes and improved staff skills;
Community engagement portal development in close connection with the community. An interactive web portal with educational materials and pre-defined content highlights depending on the role of the user has been planned and developed. The portal is designed to become an easy-access source of all needed ICOS-related documents, guidelines, onboarding materials and contact info for the community users. Three domain-specific surveys (Atmosphere, Ecosystem, Ocean) were conducted to assess community expectations, needs, and perceptions related to the portal. The content and portal architecture has been planned according to the results of these community surveys. The portal will strengthen the skills of all members of the ICOS community by enabling fast and easy access to the most often used resources and materials.
O4: Global integration
Strengthening global cooperation and improving interoperability among major greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring networks, Mace Head supersite intercomparison involves the four leading laboratories in the world (from New Zealand, USA and Germany) In intercomparisons of data processing workflows, comparison between ICOS and Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) greenhouse gas data processing chains. The study systematically documented and quantified the effects of quality control and non-linear calibration procedures. The work provides a methodological prototype for future ICOS–NOAA intercomparisons (in RP2). All this contributes to quantifying the sources of uncertainty in global datasets.
Work with Analysis of the specific challenges for monitoring GHG in the tropics (D4.5) and Automatic EM27 data processing (D1.1) both support more efficient and timely data collection in currently underobserved areas. The 2024 ICOS Summer School, executed in close co-operation with WMO, had several participants from the Global South
O1: tighter collaboration with the remote sensing community
Installing sensors used to measure Land-Surface Temperature (LST) and fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) were successfully carried out. Both variables are recognised by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) as Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), a list of parameters for describing the Earth’s changing climate. These parameters are used by the remote sensing community for calibration and validation (cal/val) of satellite measurements. Another improvement towards remote sensing community was the work done within the framework of NUBICOS to automate the tasks of processing and quality control of total column measurements of CO2, CH₄, CO, and H2O using EM27/SUN spectrometers.
O2: Improving the value chain from observations to climate services
Development and release of the ICOS secondary quality control interface and quality assurance routine for QuinCe, a data reduction and quality control software initially developed to take care of observations of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and ancillary data. The QuinCe tool is being taken up by an increasing number of ICOS Ocean Principal Investigators (PIs) and is also making its way to users outside ICOS. The toolhas eased delivery of data to ICOS Carbon Portal and other data repositories such as SOCAT. These CO2 data represent an important contribution to the Global Carbon Budget.
Data streams in ICOS have been also significantly improved with a European ObsPack software package which quality control, merge, harmonise, and homogenise data sent to WMO WDCGG (World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases). This improved data pipeline is important for increasing the visibility of ICOS data.
O3: strengthened national nodes and improved staff skills;
Community engagement portal development in close connection with the community. An interactive web portal with educational materials and pre-defined content highlights depending on the role of the user has been planned and developed. The portal is designed to become an easy-access source of all needed ICOS-related documents, guidelines, onboarding materials and contact info for the community users. Three domain-specific surveys (Atmosphere, Ecosystem, Ocean) were conducted to assess community expectations, needs, and perceptions related to the portal. The content and portal architecture has been planned according to the results of these community surveys. The portal will strengthen the skills of all members of the ICOS community by enabling fast and easy access to the most often used resources and materials.
O4: Global integration
Strengthening global cooperation and improving interoperability among major greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring networks, Mace Head supersite intercomparison involves the four leading laboratories in the world (from New Zealand, USA and Germany) In intercomparisons of data processing workflows, comparison between ICOS and Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) greenhouse gas data processing chains. The study systematically documented and quantified the effects of quality control and non-linear calibration procedures. The work provides a methodological prototype for future ICOS–NOAA intercomparisons (in RP2). All this contributes to quantifying the sources of uncertainty in global datasets.
Work with Analysis of the specific challenges for monitoring GHG in the tropics (D4.5) and Automatic EM27 data processing (D1.1) both support more efficient and timely data collection in currently underobserved areas. The 2024 ICOS Summer School, executed in close co-operation with WMO, had several participants from the Global South
Implementation of several of the results are ongoing within the three domains of ICOS: new Quince quality control as ocean stations, new parameters for satellite calval in ecosystem domain and the EM27/Sun processing in Atmosphere. Furthermore, even the first findings of ongoing intercomparison in Mace Head lead to better use of supportive weather data and hence improved data quality.
The ICOS Curve, originally planned for FLUXES magazine, has been published as interactive online tool https://curve.icos-ri.eu/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) which is visualizing latest ICOS atmosphere data, allows comparison to iconic Keeling Curve of Mauna Loa and gives tangible feeling of “this is happening here, now – this is emission in Europe, this is forests in my country removing carbon from the atmosphere”.
The ICOS Curve, originally planned for FLUXES magazine, has been published as interactive online tool https://curve.icos-ri.eu/(öffnet in neuem Fenster) which is visualizing latest ICOS atmosphere data, allows comparison to iconic Keeling Curve of Mauna Loa and gives tangible feeling of “this is happening here, now – this is emission in Europe, this is forests in my country removing carbon from the atmosphere”.