Cooperation and agreements at the global level are required in order to integrate current ground-based networks into global entities capable of tackling the global and regional challenges of climate change, extreme weather, air quality and policy effectiveness. There is also a strong desire for global integration from the research community, and in particular from space agencies, since global networks of ground-based observations are an essential component complementing Earth Observation from space.
Many European Research Infrastructures (RIs) are addressing global challenges where international approach strategies are required. This is the case for RIs in the environmental domain (ENVRIs) providing support for the study of the Earth system and the global consequences of climate change. Only by harmonising information flow, by engaging in joint practices and policies will global RIs have the capacity to assist managers and policy makers to make informed decisions on adaptation strategies. This is particularly true for RIs in the atmospheric domain, where worldwide collaboration to provide seamless access to information is required.
The overarching goal of the CARGO-ACT project is to deliver a clear roadmap for sustainable global cooperation between key organisations in Europe and in the United States to provide all users, in the scientific community and beyond, with the best possible services for accessing and using information from monitoring climate- and air quality-relevant properties of aerosol, cloud and trace gases in the atmosphere. As a first step towards global convergence, CARGO-ACT brings together the European Research Infrastructure on short-lived Aerosol, Cloud and Trace Gases (ACTRIS) with four US counterparts (ARM, NOAA-GML, MPLNET and ASCENT). The service provision for these RIs is not limited to data services, but includes access to the measurement facilities, reference instruments, reference standards and laboratories.
