• Maïdo Station: 21.079°S 55.383°E 2160 m a.s.l.
• Moufia: 20.902°S 55.485°E 84 m a.s.l.
• Gillot: 20.893°S 55.529°E 9 m a.s.l.

Observational platform

France

• French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
• University of Reunion Island

https://opar.univ-reunion.fr/

• Joel van Baelen
  Facility PI (since 1 Feb 2024)

The MOUFIA site is located close to the coast within the University Campus and is impacted by the local urban pollution and marine emissions, while there are no significant pollution producing plant in the area.
The GILLOT site is located beside the main Reunion airport, close to the shore, and is mainly impacted by marine emissions.
The MAIDO site is located on a 2200m-high summit on the western part of the island, inside the National Parc. It is under the direct influence of air masses coming from the west-north-west downhill slope, partially covered by a dense tropical forest. Main primary sources surrounding the Maïdo mount site are therefore from marine origin via the Indian Ocean and from biogenic origin through this dense forest cover. Being inside the boundary layer during the day and near the free troposphere during the night, the MAIDO site is dedicated to the investigation of the boundary layer composition and processes, as well as to the study of the low-middle atmosphere

The localisation of La Reunion in the Southern Hemisphere subtropical area – a sparsely documented region - is strategic considering the need of atmospheric observations at a global scale.
OPAR provides observations for:
- gases and particles background concentrations and properties.
- impact of biomass burning plumes on the atmospheric composition and radiative balance.
- dynamical influence of both the polar and the subtropical jet streams.
- ozone layer recovery.
- deep tropical convection, cirrus.
- composition of the tropical transition layer and troposphere-stratosphere transport at the tropics.
- boundary layer dynamics and cloud formation in a mountainous tropical insular environment.
- interdisciplinary studies: impacts of volcanic emissions on the atmosphere composition and radiative balance, role of biogenic emissions on clouds formation, impacts of marine emissions on new particles formation in a clean maritime environment.

• Baray et al. (2013). Maïdo observatory: a new high-altitude station facility at Reunion Island (21° S, 55° E) for long-term atmospheric remote sensing and in situ measurements. Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6(10), 2865-2877. https://doi.org///10.5194/amt-6-2865-2013
• Duflot et al. (2019). Preliminary results from the FARCE 2015 campaign: multidisciplinary study of the forest–gas–aerosol–cloud system on the tropical island of La Réunion. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19(16), 10591-10618. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10591-2019