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Stations

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Mace Head

Trinidad Head

Barbados

Samoa

Cape Grim

Ny-Ålesund

Jungfraujoch

Mte. Cimone

ShangDianZi

Gosan

Hateruma

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Photo of Trinidad Head, copyright 2000 by Jim Popenoe, used by permission

Mace Head (Ireland)

Trinidad Head (California)

Ragged Point (Barbados)

 
Cape Matatula Cape Grim (Tasmania)  
(American Samoa)

The ALE/GAGE/AGAGE stations are coastal or mountain sites around the world chosen primarily to provide accurate measurements of trace gases whose lifetimes are long compared to global atmospheric circulation times. The AGAGE and affiliated stations are listed in the following table. For more information of each individual station please click  station name (e.g. Mace Head) in the following table.

ALE/GAGE/AGAGE Stations
(1) Ireland Adrigole 520 N, 100 W 1978-1983
Mace Head 530 N, 100 W 1987-present
(2) USA Cape Meares, Oregon 450 N, 1240 W 1979-1989
Trinidad Head, California 410 N, 1240 W 1995-present
(3) Barbados Ragged Point 130 N, 590 W 1978-present
(4) American Samoa Cape Matatula 140 S, 1710 W 1978-present
(5) Australia Cape Grim, Tasmania 410 S, 1450 E 1978-present
(6) Norway Ny-Ålesund 790 N, 120 E 2000-present
(7) Switzerland Jungfraujoch 470 N, 80 E 2000-present
(8) China Shangdianzi 400 N, 1170 E 2009-present
(9) S. Korea Gosan, Jeju Island 330 N, 1260 E 2007-present
 

Affiliated Stations
(1) Italy Monte Cimone1 440 N, 110 E 2001-present
(2) Japan Hateruma Island1 240 N, 1230 E
footnotes: 1, stations use AGAGE-compatible (but not identical) instruments

The AGAGE station locations were originally chosen to determine concentrations of trace gases in clean air in the lower troposphere in the four equal-mass subdivisions of the global atmosphere. The majority of the anthropogenic halocarbons are in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, so two stations are placed in this semi-hemisphere. The two tropical stations are located below the tropical Hadley cell while the three mid-latitude stations are centered below the weak indirect cells. The tropical stations experience steady, largely easterly winds, whereas the mid-latitude stations experience generally westerly winds disrupted routinely by the passage of cyclones and anticyclones.

 

    
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AGAGE project official: Ron Prinn, curator: Ray H.J. Wang

 Last update: Dec. 2012