EU research centre staff to be seconded to Malta

Dr Raymond Ellul, who runs the Global Atmospheric Watch Research station at Giordan lighthouse on Gozo recently attended the World Meteorological Organisation workshop, held in Riga, Latvia.

Dr Ellul presented a paper entitled "A Global Atmospheric Watch station on the island of Gozo in the Mediterranean" in which the latest results were presented to the scientific community.

On his return Dr Ellul told The Sunday Times that staff from the EU research centre at Ispra would, in the near future, be seconded to Malta to assist with atmospheric research programmes and that the next such WMO meeting would take place on Gozo if a suitable venue could be found.

Dr Ellul is also a member of the 13-strong steering committee which formally put in an expression of interest to the EU's VIth framework programme entitled AIROS covering a total research effort by the countries involved of x45 million.

This proposal would bring together the GAW, EMEP and satellite-based EARLINET systems into one integrated system for the whole of Europe. The Giordan lighthouse station, being the most southerly in Europe, would be used to continuously calibrate satellite sensors as these passed over the Mediterranean.

Dr Ellul also said that the latest theoretical calculations from the Norwegian Institute of Air Research suggested that 16 per cent of the SO2 (sulphur dioxide) and 38 per cent of the NOX's (nitric oxide) detected over the Maltese islands were due to passing ships traffic in the straits of Sicily, which is one of the busiest in the world. Dr Ellul's group is currently busy installing equipment to detect and confirm these figures over the next few years.