No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The European Association for the Science of Air Pollution, EURASAP, was founded in 1986. The aim of the Association is to promote collaboration between scientists in the many small countries of Europe working on air pollution and its control. The Association is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation, funded by modest membership subscriptions. There are two types of membership -individual ones, and corporate memberships for organisations. The current membership (including a few members from outside Europe too) is over 200 and expanding, especially in Eastern Europe. The Association has a Management Committee of between 12 and 15 scientists from different countries, with elections every 2 years.
The Association holds about 3 meetings each year on specific topics, proposed by members and approved by the Committee. We collaborate with national and international organisations to avoid duplication, and encourage coordination. The meetings are relatively informal, and costs are kept as low as possible. Young scientists are encouraged to participate. Subjects addressed so far include acid deposition (and the non-linear relationship between emissions and pollutant effects); source emission inventories of key pollutants in Europe (in collaboration with OECD, EC, and the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme, EMEP); severe pollution episodes over Europe; and computer model simulations of the spread of the Chernobyl release (in collaboration with the WMO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, and the EC).
We have also looked at ways of measuring pollutants -for example, the meeting in collaboration with the European research programme EUROTRAC on the use of aircraft for such purposes. Other topics have covered more local studies of dispersion of pollutants over complex terrain with sea-land interfaces, and in light wind conditions; and at the other extreme, a review of aerosols and man's contribution on a global scale, including effects on climate (which may offset greenhouse warming to some extent).
In 1990, one meeting has already taken place: 10-12 April: EURASAP workshop on cloud chemistry and wet deposition of pollutants in rain and snow (Utrecht, The Netherlands). This is relevant to the chemical transformation of pollutants in clouds and storm systems, and the efficiency with which rain and snow remove pollutants -highly relevant to such problems as acid deposition.
Another EURASAP meeting is planned 26-28 September on the use of remote sensing techniques (sodar and lidar) in air pollution monitoring (Krakow, Poland). These techniques are being used to make observations well above the ground,
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