News - Clear air

The Elegance of Greenhouse Gases and the Crucial Role of CO2 in Climate Change

Blog 3 March 2025

Peter Kuipers Munneke explains the greenhouse effect and CO2's role in climate change, emphasizing that the problem lies not in scientific clarity but in the established order prioritizing economic gains over the laws of physics. He stresses the urgent need for action to mitigate the impacts of global warming.

Netherlands nitrogen case is a goldmine for global atmospheric science

Interview 15 August 2024

Nitrogen in the air and in our nature worries us and hinders our potential. It would be good to know much more accurately and much more certain where it sits, how it gets there and how to prevent or reduce it. Is that even possible? "Yes," say three leading Dutch atmospheric scientists confidently. "If you have a good measuring instrument in space, and combine its measurement data correctly with ground measurements in a model."

EarthCARE satellite successfully launched

News 29 May 2024

The EarthCARE satellite, which is poised to revolutionise our understanding of how clouds and aerosols affect our climate with its four state-of-the-art instruments, has been launched successfully.

Long awaited cloud satellite to unravel missing links in atmosphere

Interview 24 May 2024

As the world goes on, an exciting time is dawning for climate scientists. For years, they have wanted more certainty about the warming and cooling mechanisms in the atmosphere due to the influence of different types of clouds and aerosols. After years of preparatory work, the new cloud satellite EarthCARE is going to rigorously bring more certainty to humanity about this.

PACE climate satellite releases first images

News 12 April 2024

NASA’s PACE climate satellite with the Dutch instrument SPEXone onboard now offers the world access to satellite images distinguishing types and sizes of aerosols. SPEXone also measures the extent to which aerosols absorb and reflect sunlight.

ESA selects Dutch satellite system for local emission monitoring

News 21 February 2024

The new Dutch TANGO satellites will soon be able to detect sources of greenhouse gases. For example, power plants, coal plants, landfills and factories. As a result, scientists will soon be able to detect 75% of the methane emitted by humans worldwide. That figure was 5% so far using TROPOMI. ESA has approved the TANGO mission.

The Netherlands can make a major impact: measuring methane down to the local scale

Interview 1 October 2023

The Netherlands is now able to make a big impact on the inventory of the greenhouse gas methane released into the atmosphere by humans. And consequently, in the understanding of where we can most rapidly address this worldwide.

Clear Air at UN COP27

News 8 November 2022

On 8 November 2022 from 9:30 to 11:00 local time (Sharm El-Sheikh) Clear Air held the event Dutch Satellite Innovations for Supporting Climate Action on the United Nations COP27 climate conference in Egypt.

Knowledge institutes join forces to research climate change and air pollution using satellites

News 3 February 2022

The KNMI, TNO, SRON and Delft University of Technology will collaborate on research and technology development in the field of earth observation. The creation of the ‘Clear Air’ consortium intends to strengthen the prominent knowledge position of the Netherlands in using satellites to measure emissions and the composition of the atmosphere.

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