Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory

Summary

Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory

General

Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory (WAO) is a coastal site located on the North Norfolk coastline near Weybourne, North Norfolk, UK. Over the last decades the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory (WAO) has become established as a world class facility at which fundamental research, background monitoring and teaching have all been successfully carried forward. WAO has been the focus of many international experiments designed to look into the chemistry of the free troposphere and is currently supported through NCAS composition and NCAS FGAM as a national capability resource.

Infrastructure and facilities

The site at Weybourne has the ability to host large scale scientific campaigns with the capacity to provide 3 phase, 32 amp and 16 amp external power. The two well provisioned laboratories are air conditioned and secure. A small office provides the ability to network internally with access to the web. Provision can be made to access computer controlled instrumentation from afar. Active support by the local landowner enables the use of an adjacent grass airfield capable of handling balloon, microlight and small aircraft platforms. Campaign activities are well supported by the local community with accommodation plentiful in the locale.

Supporting trace gas analysis of the atmospheric boundary. Particular expertise in the determination of VOC’s, OVOC’s, Carbon Dioxide and GHGs. Long term data sets are available for ozone, Carbon monoxide NOx CN and SO2. Sophisticated instrumentation for the measurement of local meteorology including sodar, rass and sonic anemometry are also available on site.