A multi–disciplinary and – institutional programme focusing on a number of aspects of the atmospheric chemistry over the North Atlantic Ocean. The objectives of AEROCE are:

to gauge the impact of anthropogenic sources on the chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere;

to assess the consequences of the perturbuations on natural processes including climate; and

to predict the longer term efforts via the use of models. The programme officially started in 1987 with coordinate measurements from four stations, i.e. Barbados, West Indies; Bermuda; Iza˜na, Tenerife, Canary Islands; and Mace Head Ireland. Five more stations were added in June 1995 to give greater geographical coverage of continuous measurements of bulk aerosol chemical composition and condensation nuclei.