First purpose-built UK tall tower for greenhouse gas research

With the ratification of the Paris Agreement, the world has committed to avoiding dangerous climate change, which will involve rapid reduction in emissions while developing carbon sinks. Governments across the world including UK proposed several policy interventions to mitigate GHG emissions from various sectors. So far effectiveness of these measures is evaluated predominantly using bottom up methods with several limitations. 'Top-down' approaches in GHG measurement at regional scale will provide direct evidence of policy effectiveness and act as a reference point to 'bottom-up' GHG measurement approaches.

If we cannot determine the effectiveness of mitigation policies, then our ability to mitigate climate change will be compromised. Further, measurements and modelling efforts are needed to evaluate how natural GHG fluxes respond to extreme weather events and climate change, and to solve fundamental questions within carbon cycle science. To do this we need to be able to measure and quantify GHG emissions and concentrations, improve the spatial granularity of estimates, and separately quantify different natural and man-made sources.

Sampling air from ground level to through to well above ground (not influenced by very local emissions and sinks) allows measurements to be made that are sensitive to emissions and sinks from local scales through to covering countries and continents. Coupling measurements with models of the atmosphere, this new tall tower facility will allow research in greenhouse gas flux estimation to be made in unprecedented detail.

In turn this work will help policy makers decide on the policies for greenhouse gas emissions reductions as we move towards the net zero target.