tropos
01 Jul 2019

New ACTRIS observation site in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

A new permanent station of PollyNet started operations in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, in June 2019. The new site in Central Asia is located within the global dust belt, which extends from the west coast of North Africa to China. PollyNet is a growing, worldwide-operating network of aerosol lidar instruments coordinated by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, Germany.
PollyNet stations in Finland, Germany, Greece, Poland and Portugal already contribute to ACTRIS. Further sites are planned in Cyprus and the Cape Verde Islands. PollyNet instruments are also deployed on ACTRIS mobile platforms. The implementation of the new ACTRIS station in Dushanbe was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). On-site support is provided by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, thus ensuring long-term observations on climate and air quality in Central Asia.