The ICOS stations are coordinated and run by the ICOS National Networks in 16 countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
ICOS network consists of more than 170 measuring stations located in sixteen countries in Europe. The number of stations varies between member countries from over twenty stations to less than five. The oldest operating stations have been collecting data for decades. However, all these stations were re-equipped to meet the high ICOS standards and some stations have been built from scratch for ICOS. Stations operate in three distinct domains: Atmosphere, Ecosystem and Ocean.
The ICOS stations are run and funded by national funding agencies, institutes and universities, demonstrating an impressive joint effort to enable climate change research.
In the framework of the European Horizon 2020 project RINGO, five countries are cooperating with ICOS in order to increase their readiness to become members of ICOS ERIC: Estonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and South Africa. Greece and Ireland joined ICOS at the beginning of 2023.