European Air Quality Monitoring Enters New Era with CAMS2-40-bis Project
Daily weather forecasts are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and now, so too is the ability to predict air quality across Europe. A new European project, CAMS2-40-bis, part of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, promises air quality forecasts with a spatial resolution as precise as 3 kilometers, alongside improved pollen forecasts leveraging satellite data for better allergy prevention.
The initiative, launched on , builds upon the previous five-year CAMS2-40 program and is financed by the European Centre for Medium-term Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). It involves a consortium of 11 partners, including Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), as well as participants from France, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland, and Spain.
The project will generate and disseminate data on atmospheric pollution throughout Europe. ENEA officials emphasized that a key focus will be on updating and improving forecasting systems, aiming for a spatial definition of 3-5 kilometers – a significant improvement from the current 10-kilometer resolution.
Minni System Contributes to Enhanced Forecasting
Italy’s contribution to the project is the Minni system, developed by ENEA. Researchers highlight its reliability, attributing its performance to the capabilities of the Cresco supercomputer. According to Massimo D’Isidoro, a researcher at ENEA’s Department of Sustainability, the Minni system has been part of the European Copernicus program for air quality since .
The Minni system, along with ten other models from partner nations, will contribute to forecasts extending up to five days, covering both air quality and pollen concentration levels across Europe. The combined output of these models results in a daily average of 80 billion data points made publicly available.
Comprehensive Pollution Monitoring
All models within the consortium utilize a common set of data: pollution emissions provided by Copernicus and high-resolution meteorological forecasts from the ECMWF. The results from these eleven systems are then combined into a single product known as an ensemble, developed by Météo-France and Ineris and freely accessible through the Atmosphere Data Store.
This ensemble covers a range of 19 pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and particulate matter – both PM2.5 and PM10. The project aims to provide a more detailed and accurate picture of air quality across the continent, supporting policy initiatives and efforts to mitigate pollution-related health risks. Air pollution is a significant public health concern in Europe, reportedly responsible for nearly 600,000 premature deaths each year.
The launch of Copernicus Sentinel-4 in the summer of 2025 will further enhance Europe’s air quality monitoring capabilities. Unlike previous Sentinel missions, Sentinel-4 is a hosted payload aboard EUMETSAT’s MTG-Sounder satellite, providing hourly, high-resolution data on pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and sulphur dioxide. This “one satellite, two missions” approach allows for continuous air quality monitoring alongside meteorological observations.
