The ACTRIS ERIC consortium has been set up with Czechia as a Founding Member
On 25th April 2023, the European Commission adopted an implementing decision to set up the ACTRIS ERIC consortium, operating ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) European research infrastructure. In addition to Finland, the Founding Members of the ACTRIS ERIC consortium are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Sweden. Switzerland will become the Founding Observer. The statutory seat of the ACTRIS ERIC consortium is in Helsinki, Finland, and its headquarters are in Finland and Italy. Czechia is involved in the consortium through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) and the Czech national node, ACTRIS-CZ large research infrastructure. The ACTRIS ERIC consortium is the 17th ERIC organisation in which Czechia is involved as a Member State and the 26th ERIC organisation established in Europe.
ACTRIS: Research Station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland
Photo: Hermann Erik
ACTRIS European research infrastructure
ACTRIS is a distributed research infrastructure dedicated to high quality observations of atmospheric aerosols, clouds, reactive gases and their interactions. It provides with accurate data, services, and procedures on the 4D variability of clouds, short-term atmospheric constituents and the physical, optical and chemical properties of aerosols. ACTRIS is operated in open access mode, i.e., it provides users from public and private sector with access to services managed by both the central and national ACTRIS facilities. The users can carry out their scientific experiments by using the ACTRIS facilities, use advanced instrumentation, technical services, training capacities and experience of experts working on the facilities. Users may also use the services of the ACTRIS data centre.
ACTRIS: Sonnblick Observatory, Austria
Photo: G. Weyss, ZAMG
Czech participation in the ACTRIS European research infrastructure
The ACTRIS European research infrastructure is included as an ESFRI Landmark in the Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and its equivalent, the Roadmap of Large Research Infrastructures of the Czech Republic.
ACTRIS-CZ large research infrastructure provides expertise in the field of atmospheric sciences, in particular for research on atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and reactive gases. The host institution is the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. Other participants in the project are the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Masaryk University, the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and from 2023 also the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The capacity of ACTRIS-CZ consists of NAOK (National Atmospheric Observatory Košetice) and technological facilities of the partner institutions. The results of the research carried out through the ACTRIS-CZ capacities are used in practical applications, such as the development of weather forecast models, especially for extreme situations (e.g., droughts, floods and storms). The outputs achieved using ACTRIS-CZ contribute to the prevention of environmental emergencies. MEYS is financially supporting the ACTRIS-CZ large research infrastructure with a special grant amounting to CZK 31,5 mil. in 2023.
ACTRIS-CZ: Milešovka Meteorological Observatory, Czechia