Press Release – Air Quality Monitoring in Nafplio in Collaboration with a Citizen Observatory
06/02/2026

The sensor network of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) for monitoring particulate air pollution continues to expand to cities across Greece, under the auspices of the national research infrastructure PANACEA for the study of atmospheric composition and climate change.

Over the past six months, following the necessary technical preparation and in close collaboration with a local citizen group, a dense network of sensors has been installed in the wider area of Nafplio, Argolis. The network comprises a total of six monitoring sites and enables continuous measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations.

The Final Dissemination Event of the project REINFORCE (ID 15155) carried out within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU (Implementation body: HFRI) was successfully held on Thursday, 18 December 2025, at the premises of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) at Thissio, with the participation of leading scientists from Greek research institutions and universities participating in the project. The event also facilitated remote participation via teleconference.

NOA in collaboration with the New Metropolitan Attica, organized the 1^st Living Lab of the Carmine project entitled: "Urban Heat Resilience: Pioneering Solutions for a Cooler Athens" that took place at Harokopeion University, on the 5^th of December. 

Through various activities, the participants contributed with their knowledge and experiences to the formulation of strategies to enhance the resilience of Athens against high temperatures and other impacts of climate change under the frame of the CARMINE project. The Living Lab offered an excellent opportunity to scientists and other relevant stakeholders for interaction to jointly propose innovative methods and policies to address the growing urban heat crisis in Athens Metropolitan area.

APCG team, represented by Dr. Nefta Votsi, presented Nature based Solutions and led the session about Geodesigning Adaptation and Mitigation Pathways.

The aim of CARMINE is to develop tools and strategies that will not only benefit the local community but also serve as a model for other regions to empower them to cope with the impacts of climate change.

See the highlights from our Living Lab here!

APCG team participated on the 22^nd of November in a workshop that convened experts, stakeholders, and innovators at Serafio, to evaluate the tools and outcomes of ARSINOE project for the Athens Case Study.

This year, the APCG group was represented at the International Technical Meeting On Air Pollution Modeling And Its Application, Copenhagen, 14-18 October.

The ARSINOE consortium gathered for the 3rd Year hybrid General Assembly in Fondazione di Sardegna from the 2nd to 5^th of October to focus on key milestones, foster collaborations, and explore new synergies to further project’s mission on climate resilience and adaptation.

The 2024 GEO Symposium and Open Data & Open Knowledge Workshop (ODOK) in Hangzhou, China, was concluded last week, from 23 to 26 September, 2024.

Members of CARMINE consortium [IAASARS and IERSD (APCG) researchers] participated in the two-day event in Athens on the 10^th and 11^th of September.

APCG participated in the workshop “Co-creation and Sustainability on the NEXUS EXCELLENTIA program”, which was organized by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

We are pleased to announce that APCG team has published a new paper titled “Urban Biodiversity Index for Trees: A Climate Adaptation Measure for Cities Based on Tree Inventories " in the esteemed journal: Environments.

The IEEE IGARSS 2024, International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, was concluded in Athens, Greece, few days ago! It took place between 7-12 July at the Athens Concert Hall. Renowned scientists from all over the world are participated in it.

We are thrilled to announce that our Digital Twin proposal "DT-HEAT+" has received the Most Promising Proposal Award of the DestinE Service Platform Innovation Prize!

The “Urban adaptation in Europe: what works? Implementing climate action in European cities” report, released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in April 2024, incorporates two contributions from our team: our work on a newly proposed Urban Biodiversity Index (UBI) and the UHCO GEO Initiative as a significant global endeavor in support of urban cultural heritage adaptation.

Congratulations to Dr. Irini Tsiodra who was awarded the IECTO 2024 Award for the Best Oral Presentation.

The 5^th Pan-Hellenic conference on Digital Culture Heritage – Euromed 2023 was held in Larisa at 6-9/3/2024.

Notification! Read more about the registration for IGARSS 2024 Summer School that will take place on July 4 – 6, 2024. 

At our 1^st group meeting of 2024, we welcomed new members of the group and hosted students who worked with us during their diplomas

APCG participated in the 2^nd Science Meeting of the RI-URBANS project, which took place in Delft, on 18 and 19 October, 2023.

APCG participated in the workshop “Supporting Climate Neutral and Sustainable Cities through Earth Observation: the EIFFEL project Community of Practice”, which was organized by our partner Region of Attica on the 20th of October at PLYFA Athens, Greece.

A 3-day event of innovation and sustainability was held from 9 to 12 October, 2023 at the KWR Water Research Institute, the Netherlands.

Dr. Evangelos Gerasopoulos, Director of IERSD and Greek GEO Office, was invited as a distinguished guest speaker to address an urgent and pressing issue of our time, Climate Change: in relation to Greece and how it impacts our everyday life here and what difference can we make as individuals.

On the 25th of July, the first IERSD's "Technical" Seminar, dedicated to the basics of Git & Github, was held with great success at the premises of the Institute in Penteli.

Under the frame of ARSINOE project, Dr. Nefta Votsi explains the meaning and importance of Nature based Solutions (NbS).

APCG participated in the last Living Lab of ARSINOE project on the 16^th of June in Athens.

Our team participated in the Urban Releaf local workshop which was organised by DAEM SA at the Innovathens venue in Technopolis.

NOA participated at the CEMEPE 2023 Conference held in Skiathos island, Greece, from June 5 to 9, 2023.

The EIFFEL Urban Sustainability Pilot was presented during the Workshop “Climate Change Adaptation: Challenges and Perspectives” organized by the the Sustainable-City Network. The workshop was held on 25 May 2023 at the Olympic Stadium - Tae Kwon Do of Paleo Faliro, in the framework of the Scientific Conference of the Panhellenic Association of General Secretaries of Local Government "KLISETHENIS" and the 2nd Attica Green Expo, with the participation of representatives and executives from Municipalities all over Greece.

The Municipality of Penteli represents the center of efforts of the EIFFEL H2020 Project’s Pilot on Urban Sustainability.

APCG, at ICP - AGIR EU Asia Final Conference, that was organized during 3-4 April 2023 in Incheon, Republic of Korea

Two dedicated webinars -for the ICLEI-Europe Network and for Polish stakeholders- raised awareness of public authorities dealing with the quality of atmosphere, for the ATMO-ACCESS Trans National Access possibilities.

We are pleased to announce the publication of our new paper which proposes a number of novel methodologies for localizing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11.6.2 via Earth observation, modelling applications, and harmonized city definitions.

The final FIRE Forum 2023 event took place online from 1st until the 3rd of February.

The kick off meeting of our new Horizon Europe project Urban ReLeaf was held in Vienna on 25-27 January 2023. The 3 day event was attended by Giorgos Grivas and Evangelos Gerasopoulos on behalf of APCG, who contributed actively to the planning of the first year of implementation of project.

An important contribution of APCG to the RI-URBANS project and community is a tool to create localized emission inventories over European cities.

The 2022 EuroGEO Workshop (EGW2022, 7-9 December) was concluded in Athens, Greece, few days ago!

“MemCCSea Final Dissemination & Networking Event”

APCG in the 1st science meeting of RI-URBANS project, which is held in Barcelona, on 19 and 20 October.

Members of APCG and other NOA researchers were invited at the 18^th Hellenic Inter-municipal conference, Riviera Coast, Athens, 6-8 Oct, 2022, organized by the Network of Healthy Cities (ΕΔΔΥΠΠΥ).

A 3-day event of insightful exchange of ideas establishing the resilience framework of ARSINOE project took place at Tenerife, Canarias Islands from 3 to 6 October 2022. Among the various and interesting presentations, the contribution of APCG group, as a dedicated partner at the Athens case study was also highlighted.

RI URBANS green deal project in which APCG serves very acting roles in measurements modeling as well as stakeholders' engagement, just been released its new video on air pollution impact on health.

IAC 2022 took place between 4-9 September at the Athens Concert Hall. Renowned scientists from all over the world are participating at the event. APCG will be present with interesting presentations and posters.

During EXPANDEO and the FIRE FORUM 2022, focusing on “Where the market meets - Unlocking the full potential of Earth Observation in Europe”, APCG was represented by Dr. Evangelos Gerasopoulos who was invited as a panelist in two sessions.

The first Working Group meeting of ATMO-ACCESS Task 6.4 took place on June, 16, 2022. The aim of this meeting was to co-design the forth-coming trans-national access to the research facilities of ATMO-ACCESS by public authorities.

During the e-shape webinar on 6 June 2022 Dr. Eleni Athanasopoulou presented our Health Surveillance Air Quality Pilot (HSAQ, e-shape) “S2-P3: EO-based pollution-health risks profiling in the urban environment”

In May’s APCG Meeting, we had a very interesting and productive discussion fed by presentations from members of our group.

An interactive, user-friendly, online GIS platform to monitor SDG Indicator 11.6.2 was presented during the EUROGEO conference, in Lesvos 2022, by our PhD candidate Nasia Kakouri.

APCG participates in the first ARSINOE training workshop in Athens on the 17^th of May.

APCG at the Living Planet Symposium 2022 - Taking the pulse from our planet to space

The 1st ACTRIS Science Conference took place during May 11-13, 2022, with the participation of several members of APCG.

APCG and the Greek GEO Office played a key coordinating role in this year’s GEO Symposium

We wish to all Happy Easter!

Warm wishes for health and happy moments with your families!

APCG, the coordinator of the Health Surveillance Air Quality [HSAQ] of the e-Shape H2020 project, organized an online interactive webinar on Friday April 1st 2022, to demonstrate its newly developed online platform "TEASER". 

At our regular March group meeting, we welcomed new members of the group and hosted students who worked with us during their diplomas. 

Very proud to present our concluding paper "Earth observation: An integral part of a smart and sustainable city" in the Journal of Environmental Science & Policy which advocates for the potential of EO to address urban environmental pressures and suggests 6 foundational prerequisites.

We participate actively with Dr. Eleni Athanasopoulou, in the first hybrid meeting of ATMO-ACCESS project taking place on the 3rd and 4th of March in Toulouse, France.

On the occasion of the completion of the EMISSION project within the "Research-Create-Innovate" Action, Dr. E. Gerasopoulos was featured in Omicron 3 broadcast at ERT3 channel. 

APCG celebrates the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022!

Dr. Despoina Paraskevopoulou and Dr. Panagiotis Kosmopoulos have launched as Guest Editors a Special Issue in Toxics journal!

Congratulation to our PhD candidate Nasia Kakouri for her success in receiving a scholarship from the
Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI). 

A new publication from our collaborator Dimitris Mitsos, in the frame of his diploma thesis in MSc CultTech at the Department of History, Archaeology and Cultural Resources Management of the University of the Peloponnese. Dimitris is currently a PhD candidate at the same department, in collaboration with APCG.

During the “PANACEA Winter 2021-2022 Campaign”, which will take place from 6th of December 2021 to 10th of January 2022 at the city of Ioannina-Greece, members of APCG contribute to the high resolution measurements of particulate and gaseous compounds related to wood burning.

We wish to all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Warm wishes for health and happy moments with your families!

NOA was invited to demonstrate the EU H2020 e-shape Pilot 2.3 "EO-based pollution-health risks profiling in the urban environment" to university students. APCG members delivered two seminars, the first on air quality monitoring through low-cost networks in large metropolitan areas and the second on urban air pollution mapping towards protecting human health.

On the 15th of December, a meeting of significant importance was held between the National Observatory of Athens and the Municipality of Penteli (Athens-Greece), elevating synergy between the two entities within the Sustainable urban development Pilot of the EIFFEL EU project.

In today’s APCG Meeting, we had a very interesting and productive discussion fed by presentations from two new members of our group.

In Brussels on 2 November 2021, the Greek Government through the Coordination Unit of the Greek Initiative at UN level for the protection of cultural and natural heritage from climate impacts. 

ARSINOE is a 39-partner HORIZON 2020 Green Deal Call project, which draws up resilience ecosystem for climate change adaptation solutions. ARSINOE approach contains 9 widely varied show cases to ensure applicability, replicability, potential and efficacy.

We are back with our first meeting in autumn and for the new academic year, with massive participation from all team members!

The overarching objective of this project is to develop and demonstrate applications that advance the use of Earth Observation1 data in the European Statistical System.

We are excited and proud to be part of the new Green Deal project, RI-URBANS, which stands for “Research Infrastructures Services Reinforcing Air Quality Monitoring Capacities in European Urban & Industrial Areas”.

Several members of the APCG have participated in the 15th international conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics, COMECAP 2021, that was held in Ioannina last week.
Two presentations were delivered by Nasia Kakouri and Katerina Bougiatioti, while posters were presented by Eleni Athanasopoulou, Eleni Liakakou, Giorgos Grivas and Myrto Gratsea.

“We do not have the luxury of first losing our cultural property and then dealing with the situation. We must take action now “, says Dr. Evangelos Gerasopoulos, director of the Greek Geo Office (GEO). “A few years ago, widespread fires in Greece reached the gates of the archeological site of Olympia, making us realize how threatening such extreme events can be for ancient monuments”.

APCG, responsible for the operation of the PANACEA National Research Infrastructure network of sensors in the Region of Attica, has been informing the Governor and the citizens, on a daily basis through press releases and social media, about the pollution burden caused by the fires in Attica. The fire was ignited on August 3 and kept burning for almost a week.

The Greek GEO Office (GGO) on 1-2 July 2021 participated in the event organized by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and ECMWF presenting the GEO Community Activity “Urban Heritage Climate Observatory” (UHCO) and discussing the Cultural and Natural Heritage community needs and requirements related to C3S products and services.

New position on Atmospheric Modeling at APCG. If you think you are skilled and interested in joining us, please check the details immediately!

The Geo Symposium 2021 has ended!

A lot of interesting presentations and productive discussions were realized in parallel sessions.

The presence of APCG and the Greek GEO Office was more than noticed!

As Europe takes a breather after a strenuous COVID winter and football is back on the menu, a different kind of kick-off took place on June 22-23. The Eiffel project officially commenced with a very solid line-up of 19 partners, featuring public authorities, SMEs, Universities and Research Institutes. The main goal of the project is to reveal the strength of Earth Observation and the GEOSS portal in particular, in providing unique information for building climate change (CC) adaptation & mitigation applications.

APCG, exploiting the experience gained from the implementation of the SMURBS Smart Cities H2020 project, had a strong presence during the first FIRE Forum, hosted at the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC)’s annual EXPANDEO conference on 16 June 2021.

Ιn our June meeting, the APCG group was informed about the new community activity of GEO, namely the Urban Heritage Climate Observatory (UCHO) that is co-lead by the Greek GEO Office. Dr Nefta Votsi presented the structure, objectives and future planning  and the group brain-stormed on new activities, funding and contribution it can offer to support this Greek initiative.

APCG contributed greatly to public information with its constant provision of data on Air Quality conditions over Athens as a result of extended wild-fire that burned for three consecutive days in Corinth. The measurement data and maps from the dense sensor network of the National Research Infrastructure PANACEA were used to inform the competent authorities and the public and were widely disseminated through radio, television and the press.

The ATMO-ACCESS (Sustainable Access to Atmospheric Research Facilities) kick off meeting, coordinated by the French National Research Centre (CNRS) in the frame of H2020 programme of the European Commission, takes place virtually on 10-12 May 2021.

The launch event of the Urban Heritage Climate Observatory (UHCO), the new GEO Community Activity, coordinated by the Greek GEO Office and UNESCO World Heritage Cities, was completed with absolute success on Monday, 26 April 2021.

In our April meeting, a very interesting and informative presentation, was delivered by Dr. Katerina Bugiatioti on the climate crisis, who presented to us APCG mesaurements of greenhouse gases in Athens.

Our team proudly presents the aerial view of the Thissio Actinometric Station in this video.

In our March meeting, a very interesting and rich to information and progress presentation was delivered by Dr. Panagiotis Kosmopoulos on the renewable energy applications of the group.

The Greek Group of Earth Observation Office (GGO) on 9 March 2021 participated in this interdisciplinary event entitled “Cultural Heritage and Climate Change” presenting the Community Activity “Urban Heritage Climate Observatory” and discussing the management of the evolving challenges of Cultural Heritage protection.

The first APCG meeting for 2021 took place on February 11, with a presentation delivered by D. Karagiannis entitled “The Atmospheric Monitoring component of the INFRASTRESS project".

A novel service was officially released in summer 2020 in support to the distributed solar plant energy production management, electricity handling entities and smart grid operations in Europe and North Africa.

New paper with the participation of APCG members focusing on "Regional New Particle Formation over the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East".

During our last meeting for 2020, Dr. Anastasia Panopoulou presented very interested results from her work on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), including those obtained during her PhD, and unfolded future planning together with Dr. Eleni Liakakou.

A novel study realized by our group introducing a short-term forecasting system that is capable of calculating solar energy in large-scale exploiting “Meteosat”, a second generation (MSG) satellite.

In our November meeting we had a very interesting and rich to information and progress presentation by Dr. Panagiotis Raptis which was followed by a very constructive discussion.

The two-day annual meeting of SMURBS has been accomplished with GREAT success!
Representatives from all partners discussed about the current status of the project and our future planning.