CMDL Trinidad Head Observatory

Located on a point jutting into the ocean along the remote north coast of California, Trinidad Head is ideally suited for atmospheric measurements. Much of the time the site experiences baseline conditions, but it also allows for the monitoring of regionally influenced air, affected mainly by forested lands, but to a lesser extent, air having a small urban influence. An instrument trailer was installed in April 2002 allowing measurements of aerosols, surface ozone, radiation, and flask sampling for halocarbons and carbon cycle gases. Within a year, weekly airborne vertical profile measurements of carbon cycle gases will be collected in flasks above and upwind of Trinidad Head. CMDL's measurements will provide a continuous baseline of pollution and climate forcing agents in air entering the U.S. Further plans include installing a GCMS for measuring PAN, hydrocarbons, and certain halocarbons. Additional measurements will be included as the Observatory matures. Already, at this location, Scripps Institution of Oceanography is operating two in situ instruments, one as part of the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE), the other for measuring changes in atmospheric oxygen concentrations.