• 51.836°N 20.789°E 173 m a.s.l.

Observational platform

Poland

• Institute of Geophysics (IGF PAN)

• Aleksander Pietruczuk
  Facility PI

The Belsk Observatory (51.83° N, 20.78° E) is part of the observation network operated
by the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences. Belsk is a village in central
Poland, located in the Mazovian Lowlands, in the immediate vicinity of rural areas,
apple orchards, and a larch forest. The local topography features distinct morainic ridges, resulting from the activity of ice sheets in Pleistocene. The observatory is situated approximately 50 km
southwest of Warsaw, the capital of Poland.

The observatory was established in the 1960s for seismographic, geomagnetic, and
atmospheric studies, all of which continue to this day. Atmospheric measurements
began in 1963, focusing on total ozone concentration and solar radiation. These
observations were expanded to include UV radiation measurements in 1974, while
monitoring of aerosol optical properties started in the 2000s as part of the AERONET
and EARLINET networks.
Research at the observatory focuses on the long-term observation of solar radiation,
total column ozone, aerosol properties, and their interactions. The observatory hosts
instrumentation for measuring aerosol optical properties, including a Sun-photometer
and LIDAR. Additionally, as part of the GAW station, it operates Brewer and Dobson
ozone spectrometers, as well as instruments for solar and UV radiation measurements.
The observatory is also co-located with a background monitoring station of the State
Environmental Protection Agency.

• https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12497-2025
• https://doi.org/10.1515/acgeo-2016-0026
• https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6025-2023
• https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12121583