New greenhouse gas monitoring station at Jodrell Bank to improve UK emissions estimates
A new atmospheric monitoring station has been established at 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 Jodrell Bank Observatory to improve the accuracy of the UK鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions estimates.
The station, part of the UK鈥檚 programme, will monitor and provide crucial data on key climate-relevant gases, including carbon dioxide (CO鈧�), methane (CH鈧�), and nitrous oxide (N鈧侽). A new high-precision analyser for monitoring atmospheric hydrogen (H鈧�) is also being deployed at the site to monitor atmospheric hydrogen (H鈧�) generated through the growth of the UK鈥檚 hydrogen economy.
The project is a collaboration between 黑料网吃瓜爆料鈥檚 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Atmospheric Chemistry Research Group at the University of Bristol.
鈥淭his new measurement station will add important new data on greenhouse gas emissions in North West England and Wales, allowing us to objectively track our progress towards net zero.鈥�
Simon O鈥橠oherty, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Bristol, added: 鈥淲e can only understand the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by making continuous high-quality, physical measurements of the atmosphere. The current UK network of monitoring stations set up in 2012 has been a huge success in furthering our understanding, however, the addition of the Jodrell Bank station to the network will enhance our ability to determine emissions in the north-west region of the UK.鈥�
Data collected from Jodrell Bank will be added to a long-term dataset collected by the UK鈥檚 Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (DECC) network. These measurements are combined with a computer model that represents the transport of gases from the emission sources to the measurement locations. This enables scientists to estimate the size and location of emissions for each measured gas. The total UK emissions estimated for CH4 and N2O using this method are included in the UK鈥檚 National Inventory Report that is submitted annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
As the first site in North West England, the new Jodrell Bank station will provide more granular detail on emissions from Wales and North West England. This will help to improve the accuracy of UK emission estimates and will also permit new studies focused on regional greenhouse gas emissions. Jodrell Bank is also well placed to monitor changes in atmospheric H鈧�) resulting from planned industrial developments near Ellesmere Port.
Alistair Manning, Met Office greenhouse gas monitoring Scientific Manager, said: 鈥淛odrell Bank is ideally located to monitor emissions from north Wales and the north-west of England. It complements the existing network perfectly and will enable a better spatial understanding of the emissions of greenhouse gases from these regions. The resulting information will enable the UK to better understand its current emissions and monitor its progress to net zero.鈥�
The GEMMA Programme is a consortium led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which includes the Met Office, National Centre for Earth Observation, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Bristol, University of 黑料网吃瓜爆料, and others working together to create a single integrated network to monitor all sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the UK, funded by NERC and the Building a Green Future Programme.
Richard Barker, Head of Environment, NPL, said: 鈥淲ith the welcome addition of Jodrell Bank, we can start to provide greater resolution of UK emissions now and also assure the UK network is better suited to the future, more challenging, demands of achieving net zero.鈥�