EUROCHAMP - project

This scheme is to be implemented primarily through so-called Integrated Infrastracture Initiatives such as the new EUROCHAMP project, which is presented here. 

The EUROCHAMP project integrates the most important environmental reaction chambers in Europe for studying atmospheric processes into a Europe-wide infrastructure. These facilities were created by multinational initiatives to study the impact of atmospheric processes on regional photochemistry, global change, as well as cultural heritage and human health effects under most realistic conditions. 

The mobilisation of a large number of stakeholders dealing with environmental chamber techniques provides an infrastructure to the research community at a European level that offers a maximum support for a broad community of researchers from different disciplines. The EUROCHAMP project initiates a currently not existing structuring effect of atmospheric chemistry activities performed in European environmental chambers, since it offers the full availability of corresponding facilities for the whole European scientific community. 

Three networking activities and two joint research activities are formulated and cross-linked in the EUROCHAMP project. 

The major objective of the joint research activities within the EUROCHAMP project is the optimisation and further development of the infrastmctures performance. In order to meet these goals, two corresponding research activities are defined in the EUROCHAMP work programme, namely the development and refinement of analytical equipment and the development of chemical modelling techniques. 

In conclusion, the EUROCHAMP project strengthens the idea of a real grid of environmental chambers as powerful tool for system analysis increasing the value of the whole chambers infrastructure for the European research community. 

At the time of writing a new EU infrastructure project EUROCHAMP (co-ordinator P. Wiesen < wiesen uni-wunnertal.de >) has as its main goal the integration of all European chamber facilities to improve studies on atmospheric chemical systems and also to open simulation facilities for impact studies. 

The development of novel and the refinement of existing analytical devices of environmental chambers in order to successfully detect atmospheric trace species or to characterise aerosol particles is an essential task to be followed over the whole lifetime of the EUROCHAMP research facilities. The increasing demands for more comprehensive analytical techniques caused by the more and more complex scientific questions to be answered, requires a continuous improvement of the technical possibilities of a chamber. Accordingly, the project includes a number of research activities focused on this topic ... 

Environmental simulation chambers are located mainly in the USA and Western Europe. It would be good if the existing chambers could be made available to researchers outside these confines possibly through common projects. Possible initiatives to improve the global disparity in distribution with newly built chambers is also an alternative which could be explored. Some support for such actions exist wifliin European projects such as ACCENT, EUROCHAMP and INTROP (ESF), which were briefly introduced at die workshop. 

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