Ningxia formally launched its first greenhouse gas monitoring station in its provincial capital of Yinchuan this year as one of 18 trial stations set up in China. The station began reporting greenhouse gas data to China’s National Environmental Monitoring Centre on January 1, 2011. After more than two months of debugging, it has been cleared for formal operation.

The 24-hour station will continuously monitor Yinchuan’s carbon dioxide and methane quantities and notify scientists of changes in air quality trends in order to provide technical support for creating a database of observed greenhouse gasses intended to identify and curb harmful emissions.