Welcome to the
Center for Aerosol In-Situ - European Center for Aerosol Calibration and Characterization (CAIS-ECAC)
In the frame of the European Research Infrastructure ACTRIS-ERIC, the Center for Aerosol In-Situ - European Center for Aerosol Calibration and Characterization (CAIS-ECAC) is one of the Central Facilities for the ACTRIS National Facilities and external users worldwide. CAIS-ECAC’s mission is to offer operational support for quality assured and controlled physical and chemical aerosol in situ measurements & sampling, to conduct traceable instrument calibration, and to perform laboratory analysis of aerosol samples. Furthermore, CAIS-ECAC develops and offers Near-Real-Time tools for fast data submission and central quality control.
CAIS-ECAC is a consortium, consisting of seven facilities. The WCCAP (World Calibration Center for Aerosol Physics), PACC (Prague Aerosol Calibration Center), and CCC (Cluster Calibration Center) are responsible for aerosol microphysical and optical aerosol variables. The OCTAC-CC (Organic Tracer and Aerosol Constituents - Calibration Center), ERLAP (European Reference Laboratory for Air Pollution), the ACMCC (Aerosol Chemical Monitor Calibration Center) and EMC2 (Element Mass Calibration Center) are in charge of the chemical & elemental aerosol variables.
To visit the CF and the workshops, please click on the icon.
which consists of
Seven Central Facilities
and is responsible for 90 National Facilities in 19 countries in Europe.
Events & Announcement
Agenda Aerosol In-Situ Community Meeting
Wednesday, October 21, 2026,
8:30 to 12:00
CEST
The meeting will take place during ACTRIS Week in Katowice. This will be a hybrid meeting.
You can attend in person in Room B/0.38 or
join remotely via the Zoom link given in the last e-mail.Time (CEST) Topics
08:30 - 08:40 Welcome &
Introduction
- Jean-Philippe Putaud & Alfred Wiedensohler
08:40 - 08:55 Current status of CAIS-ECAC
- Alfred Wiedensohler
08:55 - 09:10 News from CCC
- CCC activities and upcoming workshops - Silja Häme
- Preliminary results from Nano-MPSS workshop (May 2026, Helsinki) and main results from PSM2.0 comparison - Janne Lampilahti
09:10 - 09:25 Topics from DC
- Demo of the new EBAS Data Portal and Real-Time Data Showcase (DC In Situ) Introduction to the new EBAS portal, sharing the ACTRIS Data Portal architecture but offering more detailed search options, such as by instrument model - Markus Fiebig
- AIS data submission status, given by DC - Markus Fiebig
09:25 - 09:40 Aerosol In-Situ
NRT:
Instrument Support, Recent Additions and Development Status
- Sudheer Bhakare
09:40 - 09:55 News
- OGTAC-CC
- Falk Mothes
09:55 - 10:10 Results from the last OCEC intercomparison
- Fabrizia Cavalli/Jean-Philppe Putaud
10.10 - 10:30 TSI –
NEWS
APSS new laser & Updated MPSS software
- Torsten Tritscher
10:30 - 10:45 News - ACMCC
- Jean-Eudes Petit
10:45 - 11:00 Software from WCCAP
- Kay Weinhold
11:00 - 11:20 AIS QA/QC tool
- Derek Hageman
11:20 - 11-30 Nafion dryer
efficiency (dry air vs. vacuum mode)
- Michal Sanetrnik
11:30 - 12:00 Questions
and Discussion
Workshops at Central Facilities
Event:WCCAP workshops
Location:TROPOS WCCAP at Leipzig
The Central Facility WCCAP in Leipzig, Germany is hosting the next inter-comparison workshop for National Facilities in:
Golden MPSS Workshop:
- September 21 - September 25 , 2026
- September 28 - October 02 , 2026
- October 05 - October 09 , 2026
- November 02 - November 13, 2026
Activity &
Newsletter
Meetings
Minutes
Aerosol In-Situ Commiunity Meetings
OGTAC-CC Commiunity Meetings
last update January 2024
last update October 2026Measurement
Guidelines
Labeling
Process
Labeling Process Step 1A - initial acceptance
The labeling process for a ACTRIS National Facility consists of several steps:
The sketch explains the procedure of the step 1a, the initial acceptance, at CAIS-ECAC.
- step 1a (initial acceptance)
- step 1b (performance evaluation after 2 consecutive years of operation)
- step 1c (review approval and obtaining the ACTRIS label)
- step 2 (regular re-evaluation)
Procedure Of The Labeling
Operational SupportOperational support which is organized by CAIS-ECAC on regular basis:
Operational Support | Instrument | Frequency | Modality of provision |
| Calibration Workshops at CAIS-ECAC | Microphysical & optical instruments | biannually | Call launched by CAIS-ECAC |
| Round-Robin-Tests at CAIS-ECAC | OC/EC Organic tracers Element analysis | annually | Call launched by CAIS-ECAC |
| NF audits | Not regular | Call launched by CAIS-ECAC |
Agenda Aerosol In-Situ Community Meeting
Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 8:30 to 12:00 CEST
The meeting will take place during ACTRIS Week in Katowice. This will be a hybrid meeting. You can attend in person in Room B/0.38 or join remotely via the Zoom link given in the last e-mail.
Dear participants,
the Aerosol In-Situ Course 2026 in Kosetice, Czech Republic will start next week. We wish you a safe trip and a nice workshop week.
If you have any questions regarding the event, transport or location, please contact The CAIS-ECAC team.
Have a nice workshop week
CAIS-ECAC team
26-27 November: Data Processing workshop
As part of the preparation for the annual submission exercise, ACMCC is organizing a data processing workshop on 26 and 27 November, dedicated to Quad and TOF ACSM datasets. If you are interested in participating, please complete the form below by October 15th.
4-6 November: ACMCC technical workshop
As every year, ACMCC is organizing an on-site technical workshop from 4 to 6 November, dedicated to ACSM QA/QC. The workshop will include hands-on training sessions, as well as discussions on recent updates, in collaboration with Aerodyne and Addair.
The workshop will be held at LSCE/ACMCC (https://acmcc.aeris-data.fr/access/), in conjunction with the 2026 intercomparison exercise. If you are interested in participating, please indicate this in the form by October 15th.
The course will be held for 5 days from Monday 02nd to Friday 06th of November 2026 at TROPOS ACD in Leipzig. The number of participants is limited to 8.
Topic:
Theory and practice – Offline chromatographic (LC-MS and GC-MS) determination of organic tracer compounds and organic and elemental carbon (OC/EC) measurements in particulate matter collected on filters.
Subscription via email to ogtac-cc[at]tropos.de (registration deadline Octoeber 16st, 2026)
For any questions don´t hesitate to contact Dr. Falk Mothes (mothes[at]tropos.de).
Dear all,
On behalf of the OGTAC-CC, I kindly invite you to our 2026 interlaboratory comparison on the biomass burning tracers from module 1 and the primary biogenic source tracer compounds from module 2 (full list is attached).
......
Blog
Gallery
Contact