An EU research project on air pollution sunk inside the Costa Concordia

When the Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January, more was lost than 32 lives and a luxurious €450 million cruise liner. The sunken ship was also home to €120,000 worth in measurement systems for air pollution, owned by the European Union's Joint Research Centre (JRC). Most of the floating lab could not be salvaged.

Now, JRC technicians have installed a similar but updated system on the Costa Magica, which sails the same route as the disaster ship. The equipment, in operation since Monday, will continuously measure a range of pollutants on its journeys, which take it to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Catania, and Naples every week.