ACTRIS, the European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) for Aersols, Clouds, and Trace Gases, forms the largest global multi-site infrastructure for atmospheric research, involving more than 100 institutions across Europe.

Within ACTRIS, JOYCE is a National Facility for cloud remote sensing. 

The Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology at the University of Cologne has been operating the cloud observation platform JOYCE (Jülich Observatory for Cloud Evolution) in cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich for more than ten years. JOYCE is located on the Institute for Climate and Energy Research (ICE3) roof platform at Forschungszentrum Jülich. JOYCE additionally hosts the Topical Center Unit for MicroWave Radiometers (MWR) within the ACTRIS Center for Cloud Remote Sensing (CCRES). This unit provides support and state-of-the-art expertise for ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR) operation, data quality control and quality assurance, retrieval development, and testing of new instruments.

The University of Cologne has committed to providing the Topical Unit MWR services to ACTRIS for at least 10 years after the finalization of the ACTRIS implementation phase in 2026. Within ACTRIS-D ("Deutschland"), a BMBF-funded collaborative research initiative, funding was provided to establish the Topical Unit, including acquiring different state-of-the-art MWR. After the implementation phase, the Topical Center operations are supported long-term through ACTRIS-ERIC and the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMU).
 

CologneAMS is the center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) at the University of Cologne.

An electrostatic tandem accelerator with a maximum voltage of 6 MV and various detectors for ion analysis has been in routine operation at the Institute of Nuclear Physics since the end of 2011. 

At the end of 2011, routine operation was initially started for ¹⁴C. In 2012, ¹⁰Be und ²⁶Al were added to the standard measurement program. In the meantime, Cl and Pu measurements are also routinely performed.

CologneAMS is not only available to scientists at the University of Cologne, but also to external users. Funding for the center was provided by both the DFG and the University of Cologne. Additional funding for the extension and expansion of the facility was provided by the German Geoscience Center Potsdam (GFZ) under a cooperation agreement.

Inductively coupled multicollector plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) offers the unique possibility to perform precise isotope ratio measurements for a wide range of elements.

The Geochemistry/Cosmochemistry group previously have one ThermoFisher Neptune MC-ICP-MS system equipped with autosamplers and various sample delivery systems. A second identical device was replaced in November 2023 by a new large-scale device costing €1.3 million, the Neoma Multicollector ICP-MS/MS with mass prefilter and collision cell from ThermoFisher Scientific. This has an additional collision chamber and therefore offers more options. 

More details here.

Isotope variations in nature result from radiogenic ingrowth, the mass-dependent fractionation of stable isotopes. In meteorite samples in particular, isotope variations also result from irradiation processes or residues of nucleosynthesis. The investigation of the isotopic composition of elements in geological and cosmochemical materials makes it possible to gain new insights, e.g. into the formation of the solar system and its planets, geodynamic processes on Earth, environmental changes and the temporal sequence of geological events.

There are many other measuring instruments for analysing hard rocks, gases and liquids - see the facilities of the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy - as well as a clean laboratory.These clean rooms are particularly suitable for the chemical extraction of elements for isotope analysis and are equipped with laminar flow workstations, distillation devices, etc.

In addition to many rock samples from Earth and other celestial bodies, lunar rocks brought to Earth by the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) in 2020 will also be analysed in the near future. More details here.

Within the Laboratory for Physical Geography at the University of Cologne, a multifaceted spectrum of geoscience methods is available for scientific projects, theses, and laboratory practical courses. Since 2004, on a total of 800 m2, the laboratory offers a broad spectrum of methods for manifold geoscience questions. The laboratory's main focus is sedimentology, geochemistry, soil science, and archaeology. Laboratory work is mainly a subject of dissertations, external funds, and theses concerning scientific projects. In the context of interdisciplinary practice, the laboratory offers the opportunity for externally commissioned work (e.g., collaborative research center). One example is the CRC 1357 Microplastics, which is currently in the 2nd funding phase from 2023 to 2026.

As a central institution, the IT Center Cologne (ITCC) offers comprehensive IT services to members of the University of Cologne. In addition to the support of staff or student accounts and numerous services at the university, such as WLAN, e-mail, or VPN, the high-performance computer RAMSES is available to researchers from Cologne and proportionately from all over North Rhine-Westphalia for their research work via the ITCC (former RRZK). The HPC (High Performance Computing) can be used to run computing applications that can no longer be calculated efficiently on individual computers. Complex simulations, for example, can be carried out thanks to the performance of 100 teraflop/s peak.

Since August 2022, the meteorological measuring station has operated at the University of Cologne on the grounds of UniSport to measure relevant weather, climate, and environmental parameters. The measuring station, whose operation is designed for the long term, is a cooperation between the City of Cologne and the University of Cologne. The City of Cologne finances most of the measuring instruments and a student assistant. Cologne UniSport provides the site and access, while the university's central administration supports the infrastructure. The station is set up and operated by the Meteorology Department of the Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology. In addition, the Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln (Cologne Municipal Drainage Services) cooperates with the municipality for precipitation measurements.

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