The project focused on developing a distributed infrastructure while, at the same time, working on the improvement of its facilities: this has led to significant impacts ranging from the research communities to the innovation capacity in Europe as well as to societal services.
Its impact for the atmospheric chemistry community can be found in examples like the intercomparison campaigns, the new available protocols and in the publication of the Handbook, a tool for the future generations of researchers in this field. Its cross disciplinary impact can be found 1) in the large number of peer-reviewed articles acknowledging the project (more than 140), coming from very different research areas; 2) in the way our work has benefitted other research communities, such as climate modelling, cryosphere research, medical studies or the study of pathogenic bioaerosols.
Our work has benefitted innovation and technological development in the private sector: new instruments could be developed, tested, and intercompared through the use of simulation chambers. Finally, our work has had repercussions on societal topics of interest for the broader civil society. In fact, the work carried out within the project concerns processes and properties within the atmosphere, and as the public debate on the impact of car emissions on air quality and even on climate change drivers is very present, many partners have started the adaptation of simulation chambers protocols to enable the study of the effects of these sources. This had led to some initial studies measurements of diesel exhaust using long sample times, or on the adverse effects of wood burning and coal on air quality.
Other impacts on societal services are linked to support of the manufacturing industry, the developers, the instrument integrators and the societal services that require operational instruments that can be developed/characterized in chambers. Some of them also need diagnostics about the impact of their technologies on atmospheric environments (adverse effects, pollutant removal efficiencies, etc.).
Finally, during the COVID-19 pandemic many EUROCHAMP-2020 leading scientists contributed as aerosol experts to the public debate on potential aerosol long range COVID-19 contamination. In fact, the whole community turned toward large public communication to explain the airborne nature of transmission as well as the mitigation procedure such as mask wearing or ventilation.
