Using nuclear observations to improve climate research and GHG emission estimates – the NuClim project

Susana Barbosa; Scott Chambers; Wlodzimierz Pawlak; Krzysztof Fortuniak; Jussi Paatero; Annette Röttger; Stefan Röttger; Xuemeng Chen; Anca Melintescu; Damien Martin; Dafina Kikaj; Angelina Wenger; Kieran Stanley; Joana Barcelos Ramos; Juha Hatakka; Timo Anttila; Hermanni Aaltonen; Nuno Dias; Maria Eduarda Silva; João Castro; Hanna K. Lappalainen; Eduardo Azevedo; Markku Kulmala

doi:10.1051/epjn/2025017

2024 Impact factor 1.7

Nuclear Sciences & Technologies

Euratom Research and Training in 2025: ‘Challenges, achievements and future perspectives’, edited by Roger Garbil, Seif Ben Hadj Hassine, Patrick Blaise, and Christophe Girold

Open Access

EPJ Nuclear Sci. Technol. 11, 14 (2025)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjn/2025017

Regular Article

Using nuclear observations to improve climate research and GHG emission estimates – the NuClim project

Susana Barbosa¹^*, Scott Chambers², Wlodzimierz Pawlak³, Krzysztof Fortuniak³, Jussi Paatero⁴, Annette Röttger⁵, Stefan Röttger⁵, Xuemeng Chen⁶, Anca Melintescu⁷, Damien Martin⁸, Dafina Kikaj⁹, Angelina Wenger¹⁰, Kieran Stanley¹⁰, Joana Barcelos Ramos¹¹, Juha Hatakka⁴, Timo Anttila⁴, Hermanni Aaltonen⁴, Nuno Dias¹, Maria Eduarda Silva¹, João Castro¹, Hanna K. Lappalainen⁶, Eduardo Azevedo¹¹ and Markku Kulmala⁶

¹ INESC TEC – Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science Rua Dr Roberto Frias Porto Portugal
² ANSTO, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation New Illawarra Road Lucas Heights Australia
³ University of Lodz, Department of Meteorology and Climatology Narutowicza 88 Lodz Poland
⁴ Finnish Meteorological Institute PO Box 503 FI-00101 Helsinki Finland
⁵ Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) Bundesallee 100 38116 Braunschweig Germany
⁶ Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
⁷ Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering 30 Reactorului St., POB MG-6 RO-077125 Bucharest-Magurele Romania
⁸ University of Galway, Ryan Institutes, School of Physics University Road H91 TK33 Galway Ireland
⁹ National Physical Laboratory Teddington UK
¹⁰ School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantocks Closed BS81TS Bristol UK
¹¹ UAc, University of the Azores, IITAA, Rua Capitão d’Ávila, São Pedro PT-9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo Portugal

^* e-mail: susana.a.barbosa@inesctec.pt

Received: 9 December 2024
Received in final form: 19 March 2025
Accepted: 26 March 2025
Published online: 14 May 2025

Abstract

Project NuClim (Nuclear observations to improve Climate research and GHG emission estimates) aims to use high-quality measurements of atmospheric radon activity concentration and ambient radioactivity to advance climate science and improve radiation protection and nuclear surveillance capabilities. It is supported by new metrological capabilities developed in the EMPIR project 19ENV01 traceRadon. This work reviews the scientific objectives of project NuClim in terms of both climate science and radiological protection, and provides an overview of the NuClim field campaign and the various nuclear measurements being implemented within the scope of the project.

© S. Barbosa et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2025

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.