Cape Grim
Do we in Tasmania breathe the cleaneast air in the world? Hardly.
The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station was established in 1976 to monitor and study global atmospheric composition.You can read about it here.
The Station’s scientific research is jointly managed by the Bureau of Meteorology and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) – Marine and Atmospheric Research. Other Australian and international research institutions contribute.
The Bureau funds and manages the station and liaises with the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme.
Station management, lead scientists and other specialists give advice on the overall program. Lead scientists manage individual scientific programs.
One of the core scientific programs conducted at Cape Grim is PARTICULATES, i.e., Pm10 and PM2.5.
Particulates get a mention here http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/cgbaps/programs.shtml
If, “Pollution threatens environmental sustainability and can have harmful effects on human health.” then why has the PM2.5 baseline air monitor at Cape Grim been out of action since it stopped operating in December 2008 for some years?
Cape Grim stopped monitoring PM2.5’s in 2008. Graph provided by the CSIRO
“PM2.5 samples collected with LV that stopped operating in Decenber 2008, …due to some sampling issues we had.”
Smoke comes into Tasmania from the mainland.
Here in the right hand picture it can be seen entering the measuring segment of the Cape Grim base-line air monitoring station. It fails to be recorded when the PM2.5 measuring equipment is not working or the segment switch is turned off.
Cape Grim monitoring station can claim “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).”
But it is not representative of Tasmania’s air quality, just the ocean’s, because winds coming into this sector occur only about 35 % of the time
Image from EPA Technical
Report #9, page 59.
Scientists from around the world supposedly rely on data gathered at Cape Grim monitoring station. We are told governments make decisions based on data from Cape Grim. How can they, and what are these people being told?
We should not have been claiming Tasmania’s N/W tip has the cleanest air in the world when PM2.5 data was not being collected from the Cape Grim monitoring station from 2008- 2011+
Click on the The Guardian graphic below…
You do not need to go to Linfen in China. Tasmania can be one of the filthiest paces on earth when forestry are burning their waste, when people are back-yard burning or have their wood heaters going, or there is pollution coming in from the mainland.
Senate Question # 1854
Senator Milne asked the Minister in writing on 18/5/2012.
2. When will the PM2.5 Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station be reinstated and resume monitoring?
Senator Conroy: The Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities provided the following answer;
2. Cape Grim is currently monitoring PM2.5 and will continue to do so as part of the aerosol program.