One of Korea’s Global Atmosphere Watch observatories on Anmyeondo Island in Chungcheongnam-do Province samples and measures the causes of climate change.
Recent air quality tests and samples taken by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) have been found to be of “high quality,” according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The KMA maintains a range of Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) observatories, and the one on Anmyeondo Island in Chungcheongnam-do recently scored 95 out of 100 in the observatory assessment part of the Global Atmosphere Watch program, run by the WMO. This observatory’s score is, along with the score of a German observatory in Zugspitze that was marked in 2011, one of the highest ever.
The WMO assesses the methodology and performance of about 1,000 GAW stations around the world. The assessment is quite comprehensive, covering both paperwork and a physical inspection. Factors such as system facilities and human resources are assessed by paper, while experiments such as blind tests and parallel measurements by the WCC-Empa, the conductor of the assessment, are measured on-site.
Along with Germany in 2011, countries such as Japan, with a score of 88 in 2005, the U.S., with a score of 88 in 2008, Finland, with a score of 87 in 2012, and Norway, with a score of 86 in 2012, have all recorded high scores in this assessment. Assessment results by year can be found at the WMO’s website.
Nine months were taken for the assessment at the Anmyeondo observatory. Experiments were taken over two months from November to December 2014, and data analyses and comprehensive assessments were taken over 7 months starting in January 2015.
“The combination of long-term measurements, the large number of measured parameters and the location of the site make the Anmyeondo Island station a very important contribution to the GAW program,” reported the WCC-Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Laboratories. The report also said that the assessed greenhouse gas measurements were of “high quality.”
The Anmyeondo observatory, built in 1997, measures and analyzes a range of climate change material, including methane and carbon dioxide. Korea currently runs three GWA stations along with the one on Anmyeondo Island. There’s one in Gosan on Jeju Island that opened in 2008 and one in two locations on Ulleungdo Island and Dokdo Island that opened in 2014.
By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photo: Korea Meteorological Administration
icchang@korea.kr
