MAIN PAGE
GENERAL INFORMATION
PUBLICATIONS
PERSONNEL
PROJECTS
RECENT DATA
NEWS
PHOTO GALLERY
RELATED LINKS
CONTACT INFORMATION
OZONE SATELLITE DATA CENTRE
WEATHER RADAR ON LUOSTO FELL
ATMOSPHERIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATABASE
IONOSPHERIC DATABASE
SGO
|
|
LOCATION AND ENVIRONMENT
The headquarters of the research centre is located at Sodankyla in Finnish Lapland, about 100 km north of the Arctic Circle. Due to the warming effect of the Gulf Stream the area is included in the boreal region. However, with regard to stratospheric meteorology, Sodankyla can be classified as an Arctic site, often lying beneath the middle or the edge of the stratospheric polar vortex and in the zone of polar stratospheric ozone depletion. Its strategic location, coupled with ready accessibility from all parts of the world, makes the FMI-ARC an excellent base for studying various themes of global change in a northern context. The FMI-ARC research sites belong to the Lapland Biosphere-Atmosphere Facility (LAP-BIAT), an infrastructure project through which the EU can fund visiting research groups. |
|
ARCTIC OZONE RESEARCH
FMI-ARC's own research is, in addition to numerous smaller ozone projects, mainly focussed on the polar ozone layer; research group has participated in all major European polar ozone campaigns, EASOE, SESAME and THESEO. The objective of the campaigns has been to study the behaviour of the arctic ozone layer and its underlying mechanisms. Although the basic processes are now fairly well understood, there remain important research topics, such as the effects of increased uv-irradiance on nature and details of the complex interaction between ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect. Perhaps the most important research task for this Northern observatory is to assess the question as to whether the regulations embodied in the Montreal Protocol and its amendments are stringent enough to turn declining ozone trends around as well as to contribute to the pertinent information necessary for political decision-making. |
|
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
Currently, the infrastructure allows research on themes related to the upper air, the boundary layer, atmosphere-biosphere interaction, and UV impact. In upper air research the Centre functions as an auxiliary station in the global Network of Detection of Stratospheric Change. This facility includes various balloon-borne sonde operations, a Brewer ozone and UV-radiation spectrophotometer, an SAOZ ozone and NO2 spectrometer, an MW-radiometer laboratory and a UV calibration laboratory. In addition, Jokioinen observatory (60.8 °N) which has close co-operation with FMI-ARC, carries out total ozone and UV observations and ozone soundings. Micro-meteorological studies at FMI-ARC are conducted on a 48-metre micrometeorological tower situated on sandy soil in a Scots pine forest. Measurements on the mast include ambient ozone concentrations and gradients, the eddy-covariance fluxes of carbon dioxide, latent and sensible heat and momentum, solar and terrestrial radiation components, as well as the gradients of carbon dioxide concentration, temperature and wind. The FMI-ARC also serves as an international UV research centre (UVIRC), supporting research into the ecosystem, human health and atmospheric chemistry. The UVIRC provides field test sites and research facilities, continuous monitoring of ambient UV-radiation, guidance on the calibration of UV instruments and help in maintenance. The mountain location of Pallas, the clean-air site of the Pallas-Sodankyla Global Atmospheric Watch station (GAW) , about 100 km north-west of Sodankyla, offers unique possibilities for carrying out research on atmosphere-biosphere exchange and background air composition at a GAW site that is the northernmost in continental Europe. The GAW network was established by the World Meteorological Organisation to monitor the chemical composition of the changing atmosphere. |
|
SATELLITE DATA CENTRE
The Satellite Data Centre of FMI-ARC started officially at last on 22nd of May 2002. The operational contract between ESA and FIN-CoPAC was formulated for final form. The first stage of the satellite data centre, the processing facility for the GOMOS ozone instrument on board the Envisat environmental satellite, which launched successfully from Kourou, French Guyana at 1:07 UTC in the night of 1st March 2002, received operational acceptance from the European Space Agency (ESA) in January 2001. The FMI is also involved in the Swedish-led multinational small-satellite project Odin, which was successfully launched on 20th February, 2001. The FMI-ARC data centre process part of the Odin ozone data. The long-term plan is to integrate, step by step, more functions to the centre. A data reception from EOS-Aura satellite is going on. That satellite is flying with OMI -ozone monitoring instrument. More functions are coming on and that information you can read from the Satellite Data Centre -side. GO UP |
|
THE LUOSTO WEATHER RADAR
The FMI's newest weather radar is situated on the top of Luosto fell. Images from the weather radar are a valuable aid to duty meteorologists in producing weather forecasts and warnings. Radar data is also useful in meteorological research. The general public has become familiar with weather radar images through TV forecasts. |
Last updated 26.11.2008
Atmospheric total ozone is measured with a Brewer spectrophotometer.
Pallas Atmospheric Research Station
The Luosto weather radar