A TEAM of scientists has been awarded almost £500,000 to establish a centre to monitor gases in the atmosphere.

Chemists Dr Lucy Carpenter and Dr Alastair Lewis, of York University, are getting £487,070 from the National Environment Research Council to set up an atmospheric observatory on the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic.

They will be the major partners in a project involving German and Cape Verdean scientists.

Cape Verde is in the tropical eastern North Atlantic, in a region which exerts a strong influence on greenhouse gases and clouds and that is highly sensitive to climate change.

There are major interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere in the area although they are little understood at present.

The project will examine long-term trends in gases such as ozone, and processes affecting the marine eco- system such as how desert dust can affect the ocean.

Over two-and-a-half-years, scientists will examine trace gases, such as ozone and nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Dr Lewis said: "This project is a key component in understanding how global changes in atmospheric composition and climate may affect the ocean and biogeochemical processes."