Greenhouse Gas Data Online from Cape Grim

Check out the latest greenhouse gas data updated monthly from one of the cleanest air sources in the world.

Air samples are analyzed at the Cape Grim station to determine concentrations of greenhouse and ozone-depleting gases, other air pollutants, including aerosols and reactive gases, and radon.

Also measured are weather and climate indicators like wind speed and direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity and solar radiation.

Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station
Cape Grim, on Tasmania’s west coast, is one of the three premier Baseline Air Pollution Stations in the World Meteorological Organization-Global Atmosphere Watch (WMO-GAW) network. Baseline stations are defined by the WMO to meet a specific set of criteria for measuring greenhouse and ozone depleting gases and aerosols in clean air environments.

These baseline stations are crucial points of reference for the larger global network of atmospheric gas observing stations.

The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station monitors Southern Hemispheric air. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii has been continuously monitoring and collecting data related to atmospheric change since the 1950s.

The Cape Grim station is positioned just south of the isolated north-west tip (Woolnorth Point) of Tasmania. It is in an important site, as the air sampled arrives at Cape Grim after long trajectories over the Southern Ocean, under conditions described as ‘baseline’. This baseline air is representative of a large area of the Southern Hemisphere, unaffected by regional pollution sources (there are no nearby cities or industry that would contaminate the air quality).