The Center of Excellence in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Meteorology of Atmospheric Composition and Climate Change originates from early-1980’s, when scientists from Department of Physics and Department of Forest Ecology at the University of Helsinki created a multidisciplinary team and started to unravel questions related to biosphere-atmosphere interactions.

Our main objective is to reduce the scientific uncertainties related to global climate change, particularly those concerning aerosols and clouds. We aim at creating a deep understanding of the dynamics of aerosols, ions, and neutral clusters in the lower atmosphere. We focus particularly on their biogenic formation mechanisms and linkages to biosphere-atmosphere interaction processes, biogeochemical cycles and trace gases.

The cores of our activities are in a) continuous measurements and databases of atmospheric properties and ecological mass fluxes, and b) focused experiments and modeling aimed at understanding the observed patterns. The CoE includes more than 160 scientists working at the Universities of Helsinki and Eastern Finland (Kuopio), and at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. We have been awarded the Academy of Finland CoE status in 2002-2007 and 2008-2013, and the Nordic CoE status in 2003 and 2010.

Below you find the introduction in all languages spoken in the FCoE!