CRYOSTAT will undertake the first combined measurements of "greenhouse", ozone-depleting, and other gases in contiguous fern-ice profiles, spanning 200 years or more, in both hemispheres. Using linked fern transport and atmospheric chemistry models, histories of global meridian and vertical distributions (troposphere and stratosphere) of the gases will be reconstructed. Sources and sinks, both natural and anthropogenic, will be identified and quantified using novel isotope analyses and trace gas modelling. The trends will be further used to determine changes from pre-industry to present in:
(a) radiative forcing from greenhouse gases,
(b) stratospheric ozone, temperature and chemistry, and
(c) troposphere ozone and photochemical state. Vital improvements in cryophilic and atmospheric modelling capabilities will result. CRYOSTAT will thereby contribute to the scientific underpinning of the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols.

CRYOSTAT is an evolution of the FIRETRACC/100 project, the data from which is also held at BADC.

The CRYOSTAT project is funded by the CEC (Project reference EVK2-2001-00116). The Scientific Co-ordinator is Dr William Sturges at the University of East Anglia, UK.