CAO

The Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO) aims to provide high quality, long-term observations on a wide range of key atmospheric pollutants relevant to air quality and climate change (reactive and greenhouse gases, aerosols) using state-of-the-art in-situ and remote sensing techniques.

Located at a regional background site in Cyprus, the station is co-operated in collaboration with the Department of Labour Inspection (DLI), which is in charge of the air quality network in Cyprus.

The station is ideally located for documenting and contrasting long-range transported pollution from three continents (Europe, Africa, and the Middle East), and dust aerosols from the two largest desert regions in the world (Sahara, Arabian Peninsula).

It offers on-site facilities and supportive infrastructure for research, development, and testing of new technologies related to atmospheric measurements in close collaboration with industrial partners. It is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation jointly operated with research teams from CEA and CNRS (France), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (Germany), and University of Helsinki (Finland).

CAO is part of major international atmospheric networks, such as the European Research Infrastructure for the observation of Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases (ACTRIS). CAO is also a regional station in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) program. It is the first GAW regional station in Cyprus, and the first ever, to provide the most comprehensive set of quality controlled long-term atmospheric observations in the EMME region.