Integrated Carbon Observation System 

cross-disciplinary team

Team coordinator: Jean Christophe Domec / Christophe Chipeaux

Global greenhouse gas emissions have risen to unprecedented levels, reaching over 400 ppm CO2 in 2017. Between 2000 and 2010, they grew faster (+2.2% per year) than in the previous three decades. To keep global warming below +2°C, as stipulated in the commitments made at the Paris conference, we need to reduce global GHG emissions by 40-70%. But how can we measure greenhouse gas exchanges, and verify the impact of the reduction policies adopted on the atmosphere and climate?

The ICOS European Infrastructure is the answer: it consists of organized networks for measuring the greenhouse gas cycle in the atmosphere, continents and oceans. ICOS is specifically dedicated to measuring flows and concentrations of carbon dioxide (ecosystems, fossil fuels and cement plants), methane (natural gas, agriculture and livestock farming), and nitrous oxide (agriculture, fossil fuels and fires) from 2016 to 2035.

The ICOS infrastructure mobilizes more than 500 researchers and engineers from 17 European countries; it is a key element of the European Research Infrastructure Roadmap (ESFRI) and is a Très Grand Instrument de Recherche (TGIR) of the French national research strategy.

Site ICOS FRANCE