b'FLUXES The European Greenhouse Gas BulletinKey takeaways High-quality observational data can reduce uncertainties in inventories ICOS provides near-real time greenhouse gas data from ICOS produces high-qualitythe atmosphere, ecosystems and oceans from nearly greenhouse gas data from the180 measurement stations in 16 countries in Europe and atmosphere, ecosystems and oceansbeyond.from close to 180 measurementThe idea is to create more accessible data by stations across Europe. following what is known as the FAIR principlethat High-quality observational data candata should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and reduce uncertainties in greenhouse gasReusable for machines and people.inventories and increase understandingICOS observational data finds its way into the of natural fluxes. inventories and MRV systems in many ways, through ICOS\' data and expertise are also usedscience, emission factors, inverse modelling and to understand the impacts of carbonthrough projects developing concrete services, farming. This information is key inexplains Kutsch.incentivising landowners to engage inThe ICOS ecosystem stations are located in a wide more sustainable practices. range of environments, from forests to wetlands, and crop sites to grasslands. These contribute to various MRV systems with reliable and standardised green-house gas data.Alongside this, the research infrastructure also N ational greenhouse gas inventories are themeasures emissions in urban areas through its EU-funded ICOS Cities project. Cities are hotspots for main way for countries to estimate theiremissions, making it crucial to measure them.emissions. The inventories, compiled usingICOS offers high-quality, standardised and open guidelines from the Intergovernmentalgreenhouse gas measurements from different regions in Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are anEurope. In the MRV4SOC project (see page 28), we are annual calculation of the greenhouse gas emissions andable to use ICOS data to increase the accuracy of our removals, generated in certain sectors in a countrysestimations and provide more reliable results," says Dr territory.Marta Gmez-Gimnez, a Remote Sensing Specialist However, such inventories typically include uncer- and Coordinator of the MRV4SOC project, which moni-tainties due to the complexities of estimating and quan- tors carbon farming in 14 demo sites across Europe.tifying emissions from multiple sources across different"With standardised data and approaches, we will be sectors. They also focus more on human impact andable to build a robust MRV system for the EU land less on natural fluxes, such as gas exchanges between ecosystems and the atmosphere.This is where the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) comes in, providing independent data from atmospheric observations to support the invento-ries. Natural fluxes are a complex beast. If we want to understand what is going on in the atmosphere, we needNatural fluxes are a complex information on human emissions and on natural fluxes, says Dr Werner Kutsch, Director General of ICOS.beast. We need information Even though there is some uncertainty in the fossilon human emissions and fuel emission inventories, the bigger uncertainty is in the natural fluxes. The uncertainties can be addressednatural fluxes. through modelling using ICOS ecosystem flux data, heDr Werner Kutschadds.'