Headline

The Atmospheric Research Expedition to Abu Dhabi (AREAD) was a groundbreaking international ship campaign led by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) in partnership with the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and the Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) of The Cyprus Institute. The expedition sailed from Vigo, Spain to Abu Dhabi, UAE between November 26 and December 19, 2022, making it the first-ever wintertime atmospheric research campaign across the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea.

Coordinated by CARE-C Professor Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, and supported by the CAO team, AREAD aimed to fill critical knowledge gaps on air pollution in a region known as a climate change hotspot. This area—bordered by deserts, growing megacities, and oil and shipping infrastructure—experiences extreme temperature increases and emits significant levels of greenhouse gases, yet remains poorly understood due to limited observational data.

The AREAD expedition built on the legacy of the AQABA campaign, which was conducted in the same region during the summer of 2017. AREAD complements that dataset with wintertime measurements, offering a rare seasonal perspective on pollutant behavior and transport.

The research vessel Jaywun, equipped with cutting-edge instrumentation, continuously monitored:

• Trace gases including NO, NO₂, O₃, SO₂, CO₂, and CH₄

• Aerosol properties such as PM₁, PM₁₀, particle size distributions, and aerosol light absorption and scattering

• Remote sensing data from a Vaisala CL51 ceilometer (for boundary layer height) and a marine-adapted CIMEL CE318T sun photometer, part of the global AERONET network

Notably, the expedition included a transect through the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, providing valuable insights into pollution from maritime transport.

The AREAD measurements showed that atmospheric methane (CH₄) concentrations over the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas were consistently elevated above background levels, with enhancements of up to 100 parts per billion. These excess concentrations were spatially and temporally correlated with major oil and gas production sites, urban clusters, and shipping lanes. The highest methane levels were observed near the Suez Canal, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, and the Arabian Gulf. Using a combination of in-situ measurements and satellite data, the study confirmed that these emissions were primarily of anthropogenic origin, with fossil fuel exploitation identified as the dominant contributor.

Read the full peer-reviewed publication in JGR Atmospheres :

This work was supported on the Cypriot side by the H2020 EMME-CARE project (Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Climate and Atmosphere Research Centre).