The proposed project “Readiness of ICOS for Necessities of integrated Global Observations” (RINGO) aims to further development of ICOS RI and ICOS ERIC and foster its sustainability. The challenges are to further develop the readiness of ICOS RI along five principal objectives: 1. Scientific readiness. To support the further consolidation of the observational networks and enhance their quality. This objective is mainly science-guided and will increase the readiness of ICOS RI to be the European pillar in a global observation system on greenhouse gases. 2. Geographical readiness. To enhance ICOS membership and sustainability by supporting interested countries to build a national consortium, to promote ICOS towards the national stakeholders, to receive consultancy e.g. on possibilities to use EU structural fund to build the infrastructure for ICOS observations and also to receive training to improve the readiness of the scientists to work inside ICOS. 3. Technological readiness. To further develop and standardize technologies for greenhouse gas observations necessary to foster new knowledge demands and to account for and contribute to technological advances. 4. Data readiness. To improve data streams towards different user groups, adapting to the developing and dynamic (web) standards. 5. Political and administrative readiness. To deepen the global cooperation of observational infrastructures and with that the common societal impact. Impact is expected on the further development and sustainability of ICOS via scientific, technical and managerial progress and by deepening the integration into global observation and data integration systems.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service Evolution (CERISE) project aims to enhance the quality of the C3S reanalysis and seasonal forecast portfolio, with a focus on land-atmosphere coupling. It will support the evolution of C3S by improving the C3S climate reanalysis and seasonal prediction systems and products towards enhanced integrity and coherence of the C3S Earth system Essential Climate Variables. CERISE will develop new and innovative coupled land-atmosphere data assimilation approaches and land initialisation techniques to pave the way for the next generations of the C3S reanalysis and seasonal prediction systems. These developments will include innovative work on observation operators using Artificial Intelligence to ensure optimal data fusion integrated in coupled assimilation systems. They will enhance the exploitation of Earth system observations over land surfaces, including from the Copernicus Sentinels and from the European Space Agency Earth Explorer missions, moving towards an all-sky and all-surface approach. CERISE Research and Innovation will bring the C3S tools beyond the state-of-the-art in the areas of coupled land-atmosphere data assimilation, observation operators, and land initialisation methodologies. CERISE will develop diagnostic tools and prediction skill metrics that include integrated hydrological variables to go beyond the traditional skill scores to assess Earth system coupled reanalysis and seasonal prediction. It will deliver proof-of-concept prototypes and demonstrators, to demonstrate the feasibility of the integration of the developed approaches in the operational C3S. The CERISE outputs aim at medium to long-term upgrades of the C3S systems with targeted progressive implementation in the next three years and beyond. CERISE will improve the quality and consistency of the C3S reanalysis and multi-system seasonal prediction, directly addressing the evolving user needs for improved and more consistent C3S Earth system products.

Tropospheric ozone is an important air pollutant, harmful to human health, agricultural crops and vegetation. It is the main precursor to the atmospheric oxidants which initiate the degradation of most reactive gases emitted to the atmosphere, and is an important greenhouse gas in its own right. As a consequence of this central role in atmospheric chemistry and air pollution, the capacity to understand, predict and manage tropospheric ozone levels is a key goal for atmospheric science research. This goal is hard to achieve, as ozone is a secondary pollutant, formed in the atmosphere from the complex oxidation of VOCs in the presence of NOx and sunlight, and the timescale of ozone production is such that a combination of in situ chemical processes, deposition and transport govern ozone levels. Uncertainties in all of these factors affect the accuracy of numerical models used to predict current and future ozone levels, and so hinder development of optimal air quality policies to mitigate ozone exposure. Here, we will address this problem by measuring the local chemical ozone production rate, and (for the first time) perform measurements of the response of the local atmospheric ozone production rate to NOx and VOC levels - directly determining the ozone production regime. We will achieve this aim by building upon an existing instrument for the measurement of atmospheric ozone production rates (funded through a NERC Technology Proof-of-Concept grant, and deployed in the recent ClearfLo "Clean Air for London" NERC Urban Atmospheric Science programme). In addition to directly measuring ozone production, by perturbing the ambient chemical conditions (for example, through addition of NOx or VOCs to the sampled airflow), and measuring the effect of this change upon the measured ozone production rate, the ozone control regime (extent of NOx vs VOC limitation) may be directly determined. Within this project, we will develop our existing ozone production instrument to include this capability, and validate the measurements, through comparison with ozone production from VOC oxidation in a large simulation chamber, and by measurement of the key oxidant OH radicals, and their precursors, within the system. We will then apply the instrument to compare the measured ozone production rates with those calculated using other observational and model approaches, and to characterise the ozone control regime, in two contrasting environments: In the outflow of a European megacity (at Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory, WAO, in the UK), and in a rural continental location (at Hohenpeissenberg, HPB, in southern Germany). At WAO, we will compare the measured ozone production rate with that calculated through co-located measurements of HO2 and RO2 radicals (using a newly developed approach to distinguish between these closely related species), and with that simulated using a constrained photochemical box model. We will compare the NOx-dependence of the ozone production rate with that predicted using indicator approaches, based upon observations of other chemical species. At HPB, we will focus upon the VOC-dependence of the ozone production rate, and assess the error in model predictions of ozone production, which arise from the presence of unmeasured VOCs. The project will develop and demonstrate a new measurement approach, and apply this to improve our understanding of a fundamental aspect of atmospheric chemical processing. Future applications have considerable potential both to support atmospheric science research, but also as an important air quality tool, alongside existing measurement and modelling approaches, to inform the most effective emission controls to reduce ozone production in a given location. In the context of global crop yield reductions arising from ozone exposure of 7 - 12 % (wheat), 6 - 16 % (soybean) and 3 - 4 % (rice), this is an important societal as well as scientific goal.

MACC-III is the last of the pre-operational stages in the development of the Copernicus Atmosphere Service. Its overall institutional objective is to function as the bridge between the developmental precursor projects - GEMS, PROMOTE, MACC and MACC-II- and the Atmosphere Service envisaged to form part of Copernicus Operations. MACC-III will provide continuity of the atmospheric services provided by MACC-II. Its continued provision of coherent atmospheric data and information, either directly or via value-adding downstream services, is for the benefit of European citizens and helps meet global needs as a key European contribution to the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the encompassing Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Its services cover in particular: air quality, climate forcing, stratospheric ozone, UV radiation and solar-energy resources. MACC-III’s services are freely and openly available to users throughout Europe and in the world. MACC-III and its downstream service sector will enable European citizens at home and abroad to benefit from improved warning, advisory and general information services and from improved formulation and implementation of regulatory policy. MACC-III, together with its scientific-user sector, also helps to improve the provision of science-based information for policy-makers and for decision-making at all levels. The most significant economic benefit by far identified in the ESA-sponsored Socio-Economic Benefits Analysis of Copernicus report published in July 2006 was the long-term benefit from international policy on climate change. Long-term benefit from air quality information ranked second among all Copernicus benefits in terms of present value. Immediate benefits can be achieved through efficiency gains in relation to current policies. The estimated benefits substantially outweigh the costs of developing and operating the proposed services.