Installation of a Greenhouse Gas Baseline Atmospheric Monitoring Station

Central Queensland hosts the Arcturus atmospheric monitoring station, commissioned in July 2010 by Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research. The station measures concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and isotopic signatures, alongside meteorological parameters like wind speed and direction. Data is intended to model local variations and contributions from natural and anthropogenic sources in a region with agriculture, mining, and gas production.

Use Cases

• Modeling local CO2 and CH4 variations based on meteorological and concentration data mentioned in the description
• Assessing contributions from natural versus anthropogenic sources based on the station's location in an area with agriculture and industry
• Developing baseline reference data for future carbon capture and geological storage site monitoring as described in the station's purpose
• Analyzing the isotopic signature of CO2 to understand source partitioning as measured by the station's instruments

Strengths

• Station uses two wavelength scanned cavity ringdown instruments for high-quality measurements of CO2, CH4, water vapor, and isotopic signatures
• Data is coupled with CSIRO's The Air Pollution Model (TAPM) for analysis
• Located in a region with diverse potential emission sources including cropping, grazing, coal mining, and gas production

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data is presented in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for analysis

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research, via the Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Measurements from a remotely operated atmospheric monitoring station using cavity ringdown instruments and meteorological sensors.

Time Range

Data collection began after station commissioning in July 2010.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 21:53:04.315931; freshness should be verified

Geography

Central Queensland, Australia.