About Us

Coordinates: Latitude - 42°10'45"N Longitude - 23°35'07"E Altitude - 2925 m

Moussala is the highest peak of Rila Mountain and the Balkan Peninsula. The BEO Moussala observatory is located in the Rila National Park in the Central Rila Reserve in South-West Bulgaria, approximately 55 km South-East from Sofia. BEO is accessible from Borovets winter resort, then 40 min by cable car and about 3h or more walking, depending on the season. The only transport to the peak is a cargo lift. Because of the high elevation of the mountain observatory, the site can be considered to be in the free troposphere and far away from the regional contamination for most of the time.

Basic Environmental Observatory was constructed 1959, destroyed 1983 and reconstructed - 2000.

Our mission is monitoring and management of high mountain ecosystems. The main fields of research are:

♦  Complex Environmental Monitoring

♦  Global Climate Change

♦  Control of Long Range Radionuclides and Toxic Elements Transport

♦  Atmospheric Physics

♦  Atmospheric Chemistry

♦  Astrophysics

♦  Sensor and Detector Development

♦  Complex Measuring Device Design

Our national and regional objectives in accordance with European policies are:

♦  Radiological and chemical monitoring of environment in order to control the large-scale and long-term changes and transborder transport of pollutants

♦  Establish long-term collaborations with other European high mountain observatories

♦  Improvement of the telecommunication and information system transmitting environmental observation data to the Global Network in real time.

♦  Improvement of measuring devices and methods

♦  Further harmonization of quality assurance programs with European standards

♦  Realization of active exchange of information and specialists all over the world

BEO Moussala is certified by:

ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management No. 3312/0
ISO 14001:2015 Environment Management No. 357/0