Source: EUROTRAC Brochure
EUROTRAC (The European Experiment on the Transport and Transformation of Environmentally Relevant Trace Constituents over Europe) was established in 1986 to tackle the scientific problem and combine the expertise, knowledge and resources in Europe, in order to apply them over a large region covering the greater part of the continent.
The beginning
EUROTRAC had its roots in two separate initiatives. A group of senior European atmospheric scientists wanted to form a project devoted to the chemistry of the atmosphere, and the German government wished to see environmental projects within the EUREKA framework. The scientists drew up the proposals which were presented by the German government at the second EUREKA Ministerial Conference held in Hannover in November 1985 where EUROTRAC was approved as the first environmental project.
The proposals were welcomed by the scientific community as a unique opportunity for extensive European co-operation in the field of atmospheric sciences. Scientists from the participating countries were invited to formulate proposals for subprojects with contributions from designated principal investigators and to suggest the names of individuals to form a steering group and act as subproject coordinators. These were evaluated and approved by the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC); 14 subprojects were soon formed within EUROTRAC.
The implementation phase started in January 1988 and by the end of that year a good proportion of the participating research groups had received funds from their own governments.
EUROTRAC was thus in essence defined by the participating scientists and as such is a truly "bottom-up" project.
The scientific focal points are:
Scientific Management
With regular reviews of the subprojects, the SSC has ensured that the overall quality of the scientific work has been maintained. It was also necessary to close one of the early subprojects and to reorganise two others as the project developed. A further subproject has been formed as EUROTRAC has proceeded in order to fill a perceived gap in the scientific programme.International Executive Committee (IEC)
The overall responsibility for EUROTRAC is held by the International Executive Committee (IEC), which consists of one representative from each of the EUREKA countries involved.
Scientific Steering Committee (SSC)
The scientific direction is provided by the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC), whose members are distinguished scientists appointed by the IEC. The scientific focus of EUROTRAC was set by the SSC, and it regularly reviews the scientific progress to ensure that the various aims will be achieved.
International Scientific Secretariat (ISS)
The International Scientific Secretariat (ISS) co-ordinates EUROTRAC. It is responsible for implementing the decisions of the IEC and SSC, for maintaining regular contact with the coordinators and principal investigators in the subprojects, and for liaison with other organisations, both national and international. The ISS is situated at the Fraunhofer Institute for Atmospheric Environmental Research (IFU) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
EUROTRAC is funded by the participating countries, as with other EUREKA projects. Participants in EUROTRAC investigations usually obtain funds and grants for their work from the various funding agencies within their own countries and some participate using the funds provided by their own research Institutes. Others are also funded from the research programmes of the European Union.
While the scientific principal investigators receive their funds from their own governments, the international scientific secretariat (ISS) is funded directly by the German governemnt through the Ministry of Education, Science, Reaserch and Technology (BMBF) and is managed by the Forschungszentrum für Umwelt and Gesundheit (GSF) . However, as the project has expanded, most of the other participating countries agreed to contribute on an annual basis to the special expenses of the ISS. These include the production of the comprehensive Annual Report, the biennial Symposia, the EUROTRAC Review, and funds for the Application Project.
Eastern European participation
The interest in EUROTRAC has steadily increased throughout the European scientific community, and scientists with expertise to contribute have been welcomed from eastern European countries outside the EUREKA framework. Early on there were participants from Hungary (now in EUREKA), the former East Germany and Yugoslavia, and now there are participants from Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Russia and Slovenia.Participation of the European Commission
The European Commission which has been running an atmospheric research programme for many years was involved from the beginning of EUROTRAC. The two laboratory-based subprojects stem from activities started initially within the EC programmes, and five of the present EUROTRAC subprojects are joint projects with the Commission.
Inter-subproject work
The second Symposium held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1992 demonstrated the successful development of the project. It was however realised that if the scientific goals were to be reached, it would be necessary to encourage more joint work between subprojects. Two groups have been formed to facilitate this objective in specific areas: chemical mechanisms for atmospheric chemistry, and the role of clouds in transforming pollutant and aerosols. Each group involves scientists from laboratory, field and model based subprojects.Interaction with the UN-ECE (EMEP)
As the project has progressed there has been increasing interaction other programmes, particularly EMEP, the co-operative programme for monitoring and evaluation of long-range transport of air pollution in Europe. EMEP, the scientific arm of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) is responsible for monitoring and evaluating progress under the various international pollution reduction conventions. EUROTRAC exchanges data with EMEP, obtains emissions data for use in modelling and undertakes collaborative work in modelling. The main scientific results of EUROTRAC should help underpin the scientific basis of EMEP's work.
Source: EUROTRAC brochure