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A new atmospheric monitoring station has been established at The University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, in Cheshire, England. The new station is part of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Measurement and Modelling Advancement (GEMMA) programme, which provides data to improve estimates of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions using atmospheric measurements. It will also track potential changes in atmospheric hydrogen generated through the growth of the UK’s hydrogen economy.
The new monitoring station at Jodrell Bank Observatory is a collaboration between the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Manchester and the Atmospheric Chemistry Research Group at the University of Bristol. The new station includes equipment for measuring the key greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), in addition to carbon monoxide (CO), which acts as an indirect greenhouse gas and provides a useful tracer for combustion emissions. A new high-precision analyser for monitoring atmospheric hydrogen (H2) is currently being deployed at the site.
Data from the new site will be added to a long-term dataset collected by the UK’s Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (DECC) network. These measurements are combined with a computer model that represents the transport of gases from the emission sources to the measurement locations. This enables scientists to estimate the size and location of emissions for each measured gas. The total UK emissions estimated for CH4 and N2O using this method are included in the UK’s National Inventory Report that is submitted annually to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As the first site in north-west England, the new Jodrell Bank station will provide more granular detail on emissions from Wales and north-west England. This will help to improve the accuracy of UK emission estimates and will also permit new studies focused on regional greenhouse gas emissions. Jodrell Bank is also well placed to monitor changes in atmospheric hydrogen resulting from planned industrial developments near Ellesmere Port.
The GEMMA Programme is a consortium led by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which includes the Met Office, National Centre for Earth Observation, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Bristol, University of Manchester, and others working together to create a single integrated network to monitor all sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the UK, funded by NERC and the Building a Green Future Programme.
Richard Barker, Head of Environment, NPL, said: “With the welcome addition of Jodrell Bank, we can start to provide greater resolution of UK emissions now and also assure the UK network is better suited to the future, more challenging, demands of achieving net zero “
Grant Allen, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at The University of Manchester, said: “This new measurement station will add important new data on greenhouse gas emissions in Northwest England and Wales, allowing us to objectively track our progress towards net zero.”
Simon O’Doherty, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Bristol, said: “We can only understand the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by making continuous high-quality, physical measurements of the atmosphere. The current UK network of monitoring stations set up in 2012 has been a huge success in furthering our understanding, however, the addition of the Jodrell Bank station to the network will enhance our ability to determine emissions in the north-west region of the UK.”
Alistair Manning, Met Office greenhouse gas monitoring Scientific Manager, said: “Jodrell Bank is ideally located to monitor emissions from north Wales and the north-west of England. It complements the existing network perfectly and will enable a better spatial understanding of the emissions of greenhouse gases from these regions. The resulting information will enable the UK to better understand its current emissions and monitor its progress to net zero.”
Find out more about GEMMA here
17 Feb 2025