The core UK Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (DECC) Network consists of five sites in the UK and Ireland measuring greenhouse and ozone-depleting gases. The four UK-based sites (Ridge Hill, Herefordshire; Tacolneston, Norfolk; Bilsdale, North Yorkshire; and Heathfield, East Sussex) sample air from elevated inlets on tall telecommunications towers. Mace Head, situated on the west coast of Ireland, samples from an inlet within 10 metres of ground level and is ideally situated to intercept baseline air from the North Atlantic Ocean. High frequency measurements of all major greenhouse gases are made at the four UK stations, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and sulfur hexafluoride.

Data from the UK DECC network are used to assess atmospheric trends and quantify UK emissions, and feed into other international research programs, including the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) and Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) networks. This work is funded by the UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) under contracts TRN1028/06/2015, TRN1537/06/2018, TRN5488/11/2021 and and prj_1604 to the University of Bristol and through the National Measurement System at the National Physical Laboratory.