Researchers detect car air-conditioning coolants at Jungfraujoch

Researchers at the Jungfraujoch have detected refrigerants from car air-conditioning systems in the Alpine air, SRF reports. The finding points to a new environmental problem at Europe’s highest measuring station.

On hot summer days, temperatures in Switzerland’s Central Plateau can rise above 30 degrees Celsius while car air-conditioning systems run heavily in holiday traffic. At the Jungfraujoch, at about 3,570 metres, temperatures can fall to around four degrees.

Mountain station serves as early-warning system

The Jungfraujoch is more than a tourist destination. The research station on the Sphinx rock is one of Switzerland’s most important measuring sites and has operated near the main Alpine weather divide for almost a century.

Atmospheric chemist Stefan Reimann of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology leads research into invisible traces in the air. His team was the first in the world to measure traces of modern refrigerants at the site in 2011.

Scientific measurements began in 1922 in simple weather huts on the snowfield. The high-altitude research station opened in 1931 at 3,580 metres above sea level, with laboratories, workshops, sleeping quarters and observation terraces. The Sphinx Observatory was added in 1937, followed later by an astronomical dome.

Today, astronomy plays only a minor role at the station. The Jungfraujoch remains an internationally important centre for atmospheric, climate and environmental research. Its instruments and isolated location, far from major sources of pollution, attract several hundred researchers from around the world each year.