The station, part of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Measurement and Modelling Advancement (GEMMA) programme, will monitor and provide crucial data on key climate-relevant gases, including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O).
A new high-precision analyser for monitoring atmospheric hydrogen (H₂) is also being deployed at the site to monitor atmospheric hydrogen (H₂) generated through the growth of the UK’s hydrogen economy.
The project is a collaboration between The University of Manchester’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Atmospheric Chemistry Research Group at the University of Bristol.
Enhancing Greenhouse Gas Measurement Capabilities
Simon O’Doherty, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Bristol, added: “We 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 Observatory station to the network will enhance our ability to determine emissions in the north-west region of the UK.”
Data Collection and Long-Term Monitoring
Data collected from Jodrell Bank Observatory will be added to a long-term dataset collected by the UK’s 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.
