The Integrated Carbon Observatory System (ICOS) Ireland Science Meeting and Flux Tower Workshop
Ireland’s national Integrated Carbon Observatory System (ICOS) network and the accreditation of its first observation stations was launched at the recent ICOS Ireland Science Meeting. This was coordinated by Teagasc, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the University of Galway, and the Marine Institute.
This meeting highlighted the scientific value of ICOS as a pan-European infrastructure delivering high-precision, long-term greenhouse gas observations across atmospheric, terrestrial, and oceanic domains.
Speaking at the opening of the event, Dr. Gerry Clabby, Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE), who was representing the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O’Brien, TD, acknowledged the high standard of greenhouse gas and meteorological measurements that ICOS Ireland produce, and the importance of these observations in supporting climate and environment policy.
The new ICOS Director General Elect, Dr. Hannele Laine, presented on The ICOS Research Infrastructure – international collaboration. She highlighted that Ireland’s contribution to ICOS is unique and strategic, strengthening the ICOS network across the EU and Ireland’s National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory (NASCO) with 28 towers is an essential infrastructure for supporting the development of an EU carbon removal certification framework.
Dr. Rachael Murphy, Teagasc, highlighted that there are over 40 greenhouse gas (GHG) observation sites across the island of Ireland and the importance of ICOS standardization for data quality, scientific outputs and long-term funding. Dr. Murphy’s presentation showed examples of preliminary carbon dioxide flux data from NASCO, demonstrating the capacity of NASCO to generate high resolution multi-site and multi-year data sites from Irish agricultural landscapes.
Dr Karl Richards, Head of the Teagasc Climate Centre, said: “NASCO is vital infrastructure for accurately measuring carbon sequestration on Irish farms and across our wider land use systems. It has been made possible through funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Teagasc Climate Centre and VistaMilk.”
The ICOS Science Meeting and Flux Tower Workshop attracted flux tower experts and data users across the island of Ireland. The workshop covered topics and discussions on Scientific and Technical Challenges, Enhancing Data Management and Future Technologies. Strengthening and supporting collaboration was a core focus with speakers from DCEE, Met Éireann, TCD and AFBI talking about the national needed for coordination in flux tower research and demonstrating broad applications of flux tower data.
Mr Ryan Burger, GHG Data Technologist at NASCO, provided an overview of the current NASCO data pipeline.