Arcturus (ARA): Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurements from an Inland Baseline Station

An atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring station began operation in July 2010 near Emerald, Queensland. The station is part of a collaborative project between Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research to establish a high-precision monitoring facility in a geological carbon dioxide storage region. Its primary purpose is to field test new monitoring technology and demonstrate best practice for regional baseline atmospheric monitoring.

Use Cases

• Establishing regional atmospheric baselines for greenhouse gases based on the station's continuous measurement purpose.
• Testing and validating new greenhouse gas monitoring technology as described in the station's primary purpose.
• Detecting anomalies near carbon storage sites by comparing local measurements against the established regional background.
• Analyzing the influence of local land use (e.g., cropping, cattle, coal activities) on greenhouse gas signals as mentioned in the site description.

Strengths

• Station began continuous operation in July 2010, providing a multi-year time series.
• Site selection was informed by regional atmospheric modelling and stakeholder consultation, as described.
• The station is located in a region representative of key economic activities (cropping, pasture, gas, coal) that influence greenhouse gas signals.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the single monitoring station location.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Continuous measurement from a high-precision atmospheric monitoring station.

Time Range

Data collection began in July 2010.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 13:14:17.119296; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Locality of Arcturus, 50 km southeast of Emerald in the Central Highlands, Queensland, Australia.