The GEO Work Plan 2012-2015 includes the Health Task on Tracking Pollutants (HE-02), which is aimed to:
- Increase the availability of Earth observation and information needed to track pollutants and anticipate changes to the environment.
- Harmonize standard operating procedures for monitoring pollutants and their compounds in air, atmospheric deposition, water, soil, sediments, vegetation and biota.
- Understand temporal and spatial patterns of pollutant transport and deposition to, and evasion from, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
- Support the validation of regional and global atmospheric pollutant models for use in evaluations of different policy options.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of international efforts to reduce releases of pollutants.
The Task is composed by the following Components:
- Global Mercury Observation System (HE-02-C1)
- Global Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Emerging Contaminants and Global Change Indicators (HE-02-C2) (link) (Official Website)
CNR-IIA leads the whole Task and the Component HE-02-C1.
GMOS was selected as showcase to demonstrate how GEOSS can support Convention and Policies as well as pioneering activity in the environmental monitoring using highly advanced e-infrastructure. (Official Website)
Task Coordinator: Nicola Pirrone – CNR-IIA