Global Atmosphere Watch

In 1968, the United Nations called for an international conference to address world environmental problems caused by rapid industrialization.

At about this time, the World Meteorological Organization set up another environmental research body, the Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network.

This has become particularly important in recent years as quite a number of stations are now operating in developing countries where further education is often a luxury enjoyed only by a small élite.

The data centres are: Scientific Advisory Groups (SAGs) have the job of managing and implementing the GAW programme.

This includes establishing data quality objectives and standard operating procedures, and also providing guidelines and recommendations for achieving these things.