Cape Grim station hailed 'world leader' for air monitoring

The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station snuggled into Tasmania's northwestern tip in Australia has been hailed as being a 'world leading' air monitoring facility by the Bureau of Meteorology.

The location of the pollution station and its access to constant wind makes it a perfect spot for researchers to observe and analyse air quality in the region. The site was first set up by a band of young CSIRO scientists who set up a caravan full of instruments there in 1976. Since then, it has become widely regarded as the 'premier site in the world'.

The station's officer in charge Sam Cleland told Nine MSN: "It's just perfect. This was the air we wanted to look at."

The site is responsible for adding significant understanding to what we know about the composition of the air we breathe. The station also contributes to our knowledge of climate change, making it the most important baseline station in the southern hemisphere and one of the most significant in the world.

The Forties air that sweeps over Cape Grim has spent a week or so above the Southern Ocean. There are around 120 capsules that are kept in the archive by the CSIRO in Melbourne which will be used for comparative analysis in the future.

Posted by Lauren Steadman