IAGOS: Commercial aircraft for climate research: ‘aerial photographs’ of the global atmosphere
An article on research infrastructure in the German journal ‘Physik in unserer Zeit’ (Physics in our time)
IAGOS (In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System) is a long-term research infrastructure for collecting important data on the atmosphere and air quality on a global scale. The data includes essential climate variables such as air temperature, greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4), reactive gases (O3, CO, NOx), aerosols, water vapour and clouds. To measure these variables, IAGOS operates compact, autonomous measuring devices on long-haul commercial aircraft in cooperation with the aviation industry. The data is delivered daily on board ten passenger aircraft, both as profiles from the climb and descent phases and during cruise flight. In addition, IAGOS operates a flying laboratory with less time coverage but a significantly higher number of measurement parameters on board a passenger aircraft. Since measurements began in 1994, the IAGOS data centre has provided open and free access to its data and data products.
Links
The full article (in German only) is openly accessible here: http://doi.org/10.1002/piuz.202501728
Contact
Prof. Dr. Andreas Petzold
Leading Scientist Head of department "Global Observation"
- Institute of Climate and Energy Systems (ICE)
- Troposphere (ICE-3)
Room 3048