The Icos (Integrated Carbon Observation System) project, funded by the European Commission and aimed at creating an infrastructure capable of monitoring the carbon budget in Europe, is officially starting. About twenty countries are involved, including Italy, which participates through Tuscia and the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change with the support of the Ministry of the Environment.
The Icos project will consist of a network of over 100 monitoring stations coordinated by three thematic centers (atmospheric, terrestrial and marine) as well as an analysis laboratory and a site which will directly manage the infrastructural network. The data collected will make it possible, for the first time in Europe, to know greenhouse gas emissions almost in real time and to formulate a European carbon balance. The system will also make it possible to evaluate the impact of unexpected climatic events, such as drought, and to evaluate the reaction of the various ecosystems to climate change. Gas measurements in Europe, up to now, have been fragmented, heterogeneous and unsustainable.
The pilot phase will be coordinated by Italy, will be based on atmospheric and terrestrial measurements and will serve as a test to fine-tune the whole system. “This type of observation will be based on extremely new technologies – explained Valentini of the CMOC – The network is a candidate to become a European agency for calculating greenhouse gases independently”.
