The Climate & Atmosphere Research Centre (CARE-C) was launched in January 2020 in the framework of the European Commission Horizon-2020-TEAMING project “EMME-CARE” (Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Climate and Atmosphere Research Centre; Grant no. 856612). The Cyprus Institute is establishing a “Centre of Excellence” in Climate and Atmosphere research for the EMME region in cooperation with EU Advanced Partners: the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz in Germany, the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in France, and the University of Helsinki (UHEL) in Finland.

Aim and Key Activities

CARE-C is mainly focused on three (3) aspects:

1. Science and Research on Climate Change and Air Pollution over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (EMME) region
2. Innovation on early warning systems for dust storm and extreme weather events, new cost-effective atmospheric sensors, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in meteorology and air quality, regional carbon footprint and air quality forecasting
3. Education and Training on Meteorology and atmospheric sciences (MSc and PhD), climate change and weather forecasting (trainings), hands-on practice on atmospheric instrumentation and knowledge exploitation and transfer.

Affiliations

CARE-C works in close collaboration with its advanced partners as well as many national institutions and organizations in Cyprus and the region. The Center’s work focuses on environmental and climate change research and the creation of sustainable solutions to address relevant societal challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, which has been identified as a climate change “hotspot”.

Activities carried out by the CyI in the areas of Climate and Atmosphere research, have attained international recognition, most notably for their emphasis on the EMME region, as underlined in the highly successful “2018 International Conference "Climate Change in the Mediterranean and the Middle East: Challenges & Solutions". Research undertaken under CARE-C’s areas of focus has also been embedded at the national level through strong collaborations with the Departments and Units of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Health.

CARE-C Departments and Research Infrastructure Units

Research activities are carried out within the framework of CARE-C’s established Research Departments and Infrastructure Units, and these activities are supported by Administrative and Research Support Offices. Details below:

Administrative & Research Support Offices

• CARE-C Director's Office
• Research Innovation Support Operations (RISO)

Research Departments

• Environmental Observations Department
• Environmental Predictions Department
• Impact & Policy Department
• Innovation Department

Research Infrastructure Units

• Cyprus Atmospheric Observatory (CAO)
• Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL)
• Instrumentation Laboratory (IL) & NanoLab Facility
• Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (ECL)
• Atmosphere and Climate Data Centre (DAC)
• Environmental Chamber (EC)
• Mobile Laboratory Unit (MoLa)

CARE-C has upgraded a number of unique and cutting edge environmental monitoring facilities that include an Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory with a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for atmospheric and earth surface observations that is unique to Cyprus and the region, an advanced environmental chemistry Laboratory for trace gases and aerosol analyses, and an evolving ground-based observatory in the Peristerona watershed in cooperation with a number of government research establishments. In addition, the Center has access to surface-based atmospheric long term monitoring data (Agia Marina Xyliatou Atmospheric supersite) in collaboration with CNRS (France) and the Air Quality Department of the Ministry of Labour.