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International Relations | International relations/ European Cooperation
European Cooperation
Political and economical integration together with the need to tackle common problems and challenges in a consistent way has triggered intensive exchange and activities between European countries especially since the late 80s. Since right at the beginning when participation and funding was possible for Finnish teams, FMI has been active in European research and development programme in the fields of atmospheric sciences, environment, marine sciences, energy, transport and information society through one hundred of individual projects.
Historically, European cooperation started already in the early seventies within the COST-programme - which led among others to the creation of the ECMWF - and continues nowadays with nearly 10 projects a year dealing mainly with applied meteorological issues. At the same time, the emergence of environmental concerns such as dispersion of radioactive compounds, acid rain and air pollution stressed the importance of meteorology for decision making with respect to impact assessment and emission control. Then, also since the seventies, FMI committed itself to provide scientific background to European environmental policy through the EMEP-programme by monitoring and investigating the transport, dispersion and deposition of air pollution. FMI also started to participate to the activities of the Helsinki Commission for the protection of the Baltic Sea to determine the atmospheric pathways of pollutants.
In the mid eighties, FMI started a deep involvement in EUROTRAC, a major umbrella project of the EUREKA-programme, which acted as a melting pot for atmospheric environmental sciences in Europe. This was a strategic move that prepared the way for a successful participation of FMI to EU research framework programmes in the late eighties. At the same time, the discovery of the ozone hole in the Antarctic raised concern of a similar possible phenomenon in the Arctic. The strategic position of the FMI Sodankylä-observatory close to the Arctic vortex started to bring numerous scientists and experimental activities to these premises and also involve FMI scientists in ec-projects even before Finland adhesion to EU already in the late eighties and early nineties.
Political changes in Europe and Finland's membership to the European Union in 1995 opened a new phase of deeper and multi-facet cooperation all across Europe. This was quickly concretised by an active participation of FMI in EU research programmes especially on the topics of stratospheric ozone depletion, climate and atmospheric composition changes, wind energy, Baltic Sea pollution and urban air pollution. This has brought higher profile to FMI research activities, confirmed their intrinsic and social relevancy and enhanced exchange between FMI scientists and their colleagues all across Europe. More information on specific EU research projects is available at the Research-pages of this web-site.
Integration and development of space research at FMI was also concomitant with stronger European cooperation, especially with the European Space Agency ESA.
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