Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) (Norway)

NILU - Norwegian Institute for Air Research is an independent research organization specializing in climate and air pollution research from local to global problems. The institute was founded in 1969 and it has now about 200 employees and an annual turnover of €26M. NILU conducts approximately 250 projects every year for government, industry and national and international organizations. NILU has, during the last few years, been involved in more than 90 EU and ESA financed projects relevant to ConnectinGEO (e.g. EU: GMES-GATO, GEOMON, EUCAARI, EUSAAR, ACCENT, EARLINETASOS, SCOUT-O3, MEGAPOLI, SHIVA, ACTRIS, InGOS; ESFRI initiatives: ICOS and SIOS; ESACCIs: aerosol, soil-moisture, ocean color, and coordinated a number of them (e.g. EU: ECLIPSE, ESA: SAVAA, VAST)), in addition to being present in the steering committees of several international programs (CLRTAP-EMEP, GAW). NILU serves as the EMEP Chemical Coordination Centre (EMEPCCC. The EMEP program comprise more than 40 Parties and forms the basis for UNECE CLRTAP abatement policies, as well as for the EU policies on Air Quality. The EMEP-CCC coordinates the EMEP monitoring strategy, which provides observations made at surface sites addressing fluxes of pollutants across European boundaries. NILU is a member to the European Topic Centre for Air Pollution and Climate Change Mitigation (ETC/ACM) and is responsible for the In situ coordination of the MACC2- project (COPERNICUS). The institute is involved in developing INSPIRE guidelines, E-reporting and GEOMS (Generic Earth Observation Metadata Standard).

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Key project participants________________________________________________________

Dr Kjetil Tørseth. Director of the Atmospheric and Climate Change Department (30 scientists) and Head of the EMEP Chemical Co-ordinating Centre. He is the permanent representative of Norway for the WMO-GAW program and member of the WMO-GAW Scientific Advisory Groups for Reactive Gases. Tørseth is a nominated member of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) – Atmosphere sub group, and sits on an advisory board of the European Metrology Research Programme: Metrology for chemical pollutants in air. He is a key expert, Acidification and Arctic haze; Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and a member to the ‘National group for Volcanic Ash and Aviation’, coordinated by the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority. He was a principal investigator, activity leader or participant in a number of research projects (EU research programmes, national projects etc: AirMonTech, ACTRIS, EUSAAR, GEOMON, EUCAARI, CREATE, NitroEurope, Eurohydros, POLARCAT, NORCLIM) and was a member of the GMES Atmosphere Service Implementation Group. Tørseth is author or co-author of more than 200 scientific reports including about 43 papers in peer reviewed literature. Key role on the project: Staff working for the beneficiary – Head for the Atmospheric and Artic network contribution to the ENEON.

Dr Wenche Aas is senior scientist at the Atmospheric and Climate Change Department y, she works with topics concerning acidification, eutrophication, heavy metal and particulate matter, and the main experience is concerning data quality control. She is responsible for the Norwegian monitoring programme for atmospheric deposition, on behalf of The Climate and Pollution Agency. Ms Aas is project leader for the EMEP measurements of heavy metals as well as reporting to HELCOM, AMAP and OSPAR-CAMP. Ms. Aas is responsible for upgrading the EMEP manual for sampling and chemical analysis, and she is coordinating part of the EMEP intensive measurement periods, in cooperation with EMEP TFMM and several EU projects like ACTRIS. An important task for Ms Aas concerns training and capacity building in countries in Eurasia, with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wenche Aas is permanent member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Precipitation Chemistry (PC SAG) in WMO/GAW. Ms Aas is project leader of NILU’s Strategic Institute Programme, Source apportionment of short-lived climate forcers, financed through the Norwegian Research Council (NFR). Aas is author or co-author of more than 150 scientific reports including 28 papers in peer reviewed literature. Key role on the project: Staff working for the beneficiary – Atmospheric and Artic network contribution to the ENEON.