In the summer of 2025, our IM⁴CA project partners from the WP3 Tropical Emissions had their first field trip visit to the Republic of Congo.
The group of scientists led by Prof. Hartmut Boesch from the University of Bremen and Prof. Manual Gloor from the University of Leeds, together with Dr. Mahesh Kumar Sha (Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy) and Prof. Averti Suspens Ifo (Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo) will set up a new observing system consisting of ground-based and airborne measurements to monitor methane fluxes from the Congo Peatlands.
Meeting at office of Professor Averti Ifo at University of Marien Ngouabi, Brazzaville with Hartmut, Tim and Manuel (left panel) and at Nouabale Ndoki National Park with our joint PhD student Gabelle Dallous and a guide.
Forest vegetation at Nouabale Ndoki National Park headquarters close to where we plan to install a spectro-meter.
Together with Gabelle Dallous (Marien Ngouabi University) the group visited the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in northern (Republic of) Congo with the Wildlife Conservation Society. The main aim of the visit was to find a suitable location for a ground-based instruments for CH4 and CO2 column measurements which will then be part of a network of three sites around the Congo basin. The site we selected is located in the village Bomassa near the Park Headquarter and we hope to start with measurements in spring/early summer 2026. We also visited an aircraft company in Brazzaville which may be a candidate for hiring a small aircraft to measure vertical greenhouse gas profiles in the lower troposphere.