First Ozone and Pollution Monitoring Ground Station for West Asia
Qatar to Also Partner with UNEP on Research Centre for Ozone and Climate-Friendly Technologies
8th Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention and 20th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol
An advanced cutting-edge monitoring station, able to gather crucial data on pollution linked with damage to the Earth's ozone layer is to be established in the Gulf state of Qatar it was announced today.
The station, the first in West Asia, will plug serious and significant ground and satellite-data gaps in the regional and global atmosphere monitoring networks.
Currently the nearest similar ozone monitoring stations are between 800km and 3,340km away in Esfahan (Iran) and Nairobi respectively.
For halocarbon measurements the nearest stations are in central Europe (more than 4000 km away) and China (more than 6000 km away).
Scientists believe the new, more advanced station will assist in understanding whether the ozone layer - the thin layer of gas that surrounds the planet and protects all life on Earth from the sun's harmful rays-is actually recovering after decades of chemical attack.
Under the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP)Montreal Protocol over 90 per cent of ozone damaging gases have already been phased out and it is predicted that the layer might have fully recovered by somewhere around the 2060s as a result of past, current and future actions.
But without direct scientific observations around the world governments cannot know whether improvements are genuinely taking place or whether there is a need to step up or re-focus the response.
The decision to establish the new ground station follows discussions between the Government of Qatar, UNEP's ozone secretariat and the Qatar Foundation.
The announcement on the station was announced by the Government of Qatar, during the high level segment of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention and 20th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.
Nasa, the US space agency will be working with the Government of Qatar on the project too.
The ground station will assist space agencies to validate Earth Observing satellites proofing the data they gather on behalf of researchers right around the globe.
Ozone and Climate Friendly Advanced Technology Centre
Qatar also announced plans to establish a global centre of excellence for research and development of ozone and climate friendly technology, equipment and appliances.
Last year governments agreed to accelerate the freeze...
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