Monitoring of methane fluxes

Atmospheric methane concentrations are monitored by MACC using its state-of-the-art atmospheric transport model together with observations from the European SCIAMACHY satellite instrument. These atmospheric analyses are then used in an inverse model to estimate the surface fluxes.

2010 ozone hole

The destruction of ozone in the ozone layer over Antarctica this year is about 40 to 60% less compared to the previous five years, according to MACC analyses based on observations from the SCIAMACHY instrument on board of the European ENVISAT satellite. Less ozone destruction is consistent with the expectation that the ozone layer will recover during the coming decades due to reduction in the stratospheric amount of chlorine. However, such a large change cannot be attributed to the slow decrease of stratospheric chlorine of 0.5-1% per year. This year’s reduced ozone destruction turns out to be caused by unusual meteorological conditions. The MACC monitoring system enables the assessment of the interaction between meteorology and chemistry, allowing better interpretation of the changes in the ozone hole from year to year.

Regional air quality forecasts

Daily 3-day forecasts are provided using 7 different air quality models. The forecast differences between the models are an indicator of the uncertainty. The example shows the forecast of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is an important indicator of poor air quality, from one of the models.