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The Center for Environmental Effects on Health (CEEH) of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) focuses on the continuous monitoring of the dangerous solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the total column of ozone and sulfur dioxide, as well as the measurements of gaseous components and meteorological parameters related to the environment and health.

Figure 1: The CEEH – BRFAA station for measuring the quality of the atmospheric environment, part of the global network for ozone/ultraviolet radiation measurements.

CEEH has a Brewer type spectrophotometer, pyranometers of total and ultraviolet solar radiation and a mobile Health-Environment unit with modern laser radar technology as well as instruments for the measurement of air pollution. All these equipments are used to monitor the structure and composition of the atmosphere, in collaboration with the National Technical University of Athens and the Navarino Environmental Observatory at Costa Navarino in collaboration with the University of Stockholm. CEEH has participated in a number of national and international activities, including the free offer of the erythemal doses of solar UV radiation to the Olympic athletes of ATHENS 2004, through the website www.uvnet.gr. The ozone and ultraviolet spectrophotometric station is part of the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Center of WMO.

Since the Center began its operation, its researchers have participated in a series of international competitive European research projects, including CANDIDOZ, QUOBI, SCOUT-O3, QUANTIFY, GEMS, CIRCE, GEOMON, AMFIC, MACC, DARECLIMED, MACC II and III, CAMS, GEO-CRADLE, SMURBS ERA-PLANET etc., as well as in national competitive research projects such as UVNET, ΠΕΝΕΔ 2003 (Research Capacity Building Program), ΕΔΗΕ (National Network for Solar Energy), PANACEA and CLIMPACT. CEEH has participated in the organization of important international conferences, including the Scientific Symposium marking the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the ozone layer (co-organised with international organisations and the International Ozone Commission), featuring the participation of three Nobel laureates: P. Crutzen, S. Rowland, and M. Molina.

Figure 2: The Nobel winners, Professors S. Rowland, M. Molina and P. Crutzen, the NCAR Director, Professor G. Brasseur, Dr. S. Solomon, the KEPY CEEH Director, Professor Ch. Zerefos, among distinguished scientists and officials from NASA, NOA, CNRS, Max Planck and others, in the first row (Athens, Sept. 2007).

In December 2009, a trilateral Agreement was signed between BRFAA, the Bert Bolin Center of Stockholm University and the development company of Costa Navarino, TEMES S.A., in order to create an Observatory of climatic and environmental changes in the area of Costa Navarino of Messinia, under the name Navarino Environmental Observatory (N.E.O.). The activities of the Observatory focus on research on Climate Change and its impact on the natural environment and human activities in the Mediterranean area.