About Meteorological Synthesizing Centre-East

Meteorological Synthesizing Centre-East (Moscow, Russia) as an international centre of Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP) was established in 1979. More than 15 years MSC-E dealt with the evaluation of long-range transport of acid compounds (SOx, NOx).

During the recent decades considerable attention has been given to problems concerning negative effects of heavy metals (HMs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on various ecosystems in different environmental media. A range of projects related to the long-range atmospheric transport of these substances are being carried out by several international organizations and programmes.

An essential progress in the field of assessment of HMs and POPs air pollution was achieved within the framework of the UN ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). In June 1998 in Aarhus (Denmark) 36 Parties to the Convention signed the Protocols on POPs and HMs. In addition to the fulfilment of the basic obligations on the control of emissions, production and use Parties to the Protocols encourage research, monitoring and co-operation, in particular, in the fields of emissions, long-range transport, deposition levels, etc.

Since 1995 MSC-E has focused on the research and modelling the long-range transport of POPs and HMs. Meteorological Synthesizing Centre-East is responsible for development and operational use of numerical models of HMs and POPs airborne transport. Transport modelling of the pollutants requires detailed knowledge of mechanisms of HMs and POPs input to the atmosphere, transport processes, scavenging and accumulation in different environmental compartments. In general models should provide the evaluation of regional, hemispheric and global airborne transport of the considered pollutants.

MSC-E closely co-operates with the other EMEP Centres (MSC-W, CCC, CIAM), international organizations (WMO, EEA, AMAP, UNEP, EUROTRAC, HELCOM, OSPAR etc.) and national scientific programmes.