South Africa: Finnish Climate Change Research Pays Off
A joint Finnish-African research project has produced significant results in the field of climate change. The savannah fires that occur during the continent's dry season would seem to have a cooling effect on the planet's atmosphere. The Finnish science has also caused African countries to tighten their emissions regulations.
A monitoring station in South Africa, founded by a team of Finnish scientists, has proved invaluable in churning out data related to climate change. Although precise measurements of the atmosphere have been taken across the globe for years, those from the African continent have been lacking – so far.
The station, founded in 2006, is intended to provide information on the composition of particles in the planet's atmosphere, or aerosols.
"These results represent the first continuous long-term monitoring of atmosphere aerosols in Africa," says Petri Tiitta from the University of Eastern Finland, who joined the project four years ago. "The measurements provide real-time information on the size and composition of the particles."
StormSignal