ICOS Cities Barcelona is an associated urban greenhouse gas monitoring activity focused on the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. It is led by ICTA-UAB and is connected to the ICOS Cities framework, which supports the development of urban greenhouse gas observations and services for climate action.
The Barcelona network is designed to capture the heterogeneity of the metropolitan area by placing online gas analysers in locations representing different urban and peri-urban land uses. The monitoring approach includes continuous measurements of atmospheric CO2, CH4 and CO concentrations using Picarro analysers.
ICTA-UAB coordinates the network. Its measurement sites are hosted by ICTA-UAB (traffic-influenced setting), IDAEA-CSIC (urban park), Observatori Fabra (Collserola forest), ICM-CSIC (urban coast) and UPC-Agropolis (agriculture and airport setting; operational since November 2025).
This activity is an urban observation platform associated with ICOS Cities, not a certified ICOS-Spain station. Its role is to connect the national network with urban greenhouse-gas observations, emissions research and the ICOS Cities data ecosystem.