ICOS-WB (integrated system for observing carbon in the Walloon-Brussels Federation)
Partnership: LUEM, GSF, UOA, ISSeP
Grant amount: €3,900,000
Research period: 96 months
Schedule: ESFRI
Context
Climate change is a major environmental problem. The main cause is the massive use of fossil fuels which release CO2, which in turn contributes to the greenhouse effect. Oceans and land ecosystems play a significant mitigating role in absorbing some of the CO2 released, and thus limiting the impact of the human activity. However, the phenomena are complex and no-one can currently predict what will happen in the future. Thus, understanding the factors controlling CO2 exchanges between the atmosphere and these ecosystems is essential.
Objective
Obtaining high-rate, very high-quality measurements over a long period is useful for providing an overview of the phenomena. ICOS is a European project with over 80 measurement points soon to be deployed to cover the different ecosystems at earth and marine level. Thanks to this project, 3 stations (young forest, mature forest, crops) will be planted in Wallonia, thus contributing to this large-scale environmental project.