This paper gives a brief description and “raison d’être” of the Network for the Detec-tion of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) as well as its key research tasks to address the broader goal of monitoring atmospheric changes and to identify their causes and related impacts on mankind’s environment. While the Network has primarily focussed, thus far, on monitoring the ozone layer and assessing global compliance with the Montreal Protocol, ongoing implementations and new capabilities have enabled it to adapt to more recent political developments such as the Kyoto Proto-col on substances affecting the climate system. Examples of activities in support of the latter are reported, based on infrared solar observations at the Jungfraujoch station.