Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) Norway and Ocean Thematic Centre (OTC), phase 3

Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a European research infrastructure forming an observation system that measure and assess atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations ensuring independent and reliable carbon measurements. Through observations, ICOS provides knowledge on how societies have succeeded in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and how emissions are regionally distributed.

ICOS-Norway is the Norwegian component of ICOS. It delivers standardized and high-quality carbon data from different sites and platforms, including towers for air measurements in southern Norway and at Svalbard, a forest station in south-eastern Norway, and the use of ine research ship and two commercial ships in the North Atlantic, the Nordic Seas, and areas around Svalbard.

This observation system will be an important tool to verify Norway and EU’s efforts to mitigate climate change.

Data from the various platforms are integrated and made available to carbon system scientists and various interested parties such as research communities, national agencies, oil and energy companies, and fisheries.

The Ocean Thematic Centre (OTC) is one of four central facilities within ICOS. OTC currently coordinates twenty-nine ocean stations from eight countries monitoring carbon uptake and fluxes in the North Atlantic, Nordic Seas, Baltic, and the Mediterranean Sea.