COS OCS

The future climate of the Earth strongly depends on the capacity of the global ecological system to sequester atmospheric CO₂, and on the abundance of stratospheric sulphate aerosols (SSA). These aerosols form a layer that resides at about 16 km altitude that, contrary to CO₂, has a cooling effect on the climate. These two climate-regulating mechanisms are intricately linked to an atmospheric gas that makes up only a tiny fraction of the Earth's atmosphere, carbonyl sulphide (COS). Maarten Krol from Wageningen University, through this ERC-advanced grant, aims to fundamentally improve our limited understanding of the COS atmospheric budget which would therefore signal a major step forward in our ability to diagnose CO₂ uptake and SSA formation. The project also combines innovative modelling and measurements (by CIO) that will eventually allow breakthroughs in the coupled COS and CO₂ budgets, and unlock the potential of COS as a new climate diagnostic.