Meteorological Synthesizing Centre-East (Moscow, Russia) is one of the international Centres of Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP). The Centre was established in 1979 to evaluate long-range transport of air pollution.

During the recent decades considerable attention has been given to the negative effects of heavy metals (HMs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on various ecosystems in different environmental media. An essential progress in the assessment of HMs and POPs air pollution was achieved within the framework of the UN ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). In June 1998 in Aarhus (Denmark) 36 Parties to the Convention signed the Protocols on POPs and HMs. In addition to the fulfillment of the basic obligations on the control of emissions, production and use of HMs and POPs the Parties to the Protocols encourage research, monitoring and co-operation, in particular, in the fields of emissions, long-range transport, deposition levels, etc.

Main activity of MSC-E is focused on the research and modelling the long-range transport of pollution. The Centre is responsible for the development and operational use of numerical models of HM and POP airborne transport and deposition. Modelling of pollution dispersion requires detailed knowledge of mechanisms of HM and POP release to, transport and transformation in, and removal from the atmosphere as well as accumulation in other environmental compartments. In general the models should be capable to evaluate airborne pollution transport at different levels including global, regional, and local scales. Besides the MSC-E provides Parties to the Convention with information on the pollution by HMs and POPs including levels of concentrations and deposition, their spatial and temporal trends, transboundary transport an source-receptor relationships.

Working in the field of HMs and POPs the MSC-E closely co-operates with other EMEP Centres, international organizations (WMO, EEA, AMAP, UNEP, HELCOM, OSPAR etc.) and national scientific programmes.

 

EMEP

     

The Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP) was created to provide governments and subsidiary bodies under the CLRTAP with qualified information on pollution to support the development and further evaluation of the international protocols on emission reductions negotiated within the Convention. The work of the EMEP programme is focused on assessing the transboundary transport of acidifying and eutrophying substances, ground level ozone, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), heavy metals (HMs), and particulate matter.

The programme's activity includes: collection of emission data, monitoring air and precipitation quality, and modelling of atmospheric transport and deposition of air pollutants which are the basis for the assessment and regular reports on emissions, air concentrations and deposition, significance of transboundary fluxes, and exceedances of critical loads and threshold levels. The acting of the EMEP programme is carried by five international Centres (CCC, CEIP, CIAM, MSC-E, and MSC-W) and four Task Forces (TFEIP, TFIAM, TFHTAP, and TFMM).
 
 

LRTAP Convention

      

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) is an international legally binding instrument aimed at protecting the environment and reducing the levels of contamination by harmful substances. The Convention was signed by 34 Governments and the European Community (EC) as a result of the High-level Meeting within the Framework of the ECE on the Protection of the Environment in November 1979 in Geneva and entered into force in 1983. The CLRTAP has elaborated a framework for controlling and reducing contamination of the environment and its harmful effects on human health caused by transboundary transport of air pollution. It has been extended by eight specific protocols.