Award: OCE-2123053

Being located in a remote part of the Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda has long been an important location for numerous studies of the marine environment, including the marine atmosphere. Measurements of various chemicals in the atmosphere over the North Atlantic Ocean have been made on Bermuda since the mid-1970s. Longer term measurements of air and rain chemistry began in the early 1980’s, and in 1987 a 70’ walk-up tower was erected at Tudor Hill, Bermuda, as part of the Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment (AEROCE), an international long-term study of the atmospheric transport of aerosols and gases in the North Atlantic region. This facility is one of only a few marine atmospheric observatories that exist worldwide and it provides the ability to make year-round, complex measurements of the atmosphere over the ocean without the use of a research ship or buoy moorings.

Since March 2003, with support from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS –a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University since 2021) has been operating the Tudor Hill Marine Atmospheric Observatory as a research facility for activities conducted by BIOS and other US and international scientists. The facility consists of the tower, a habitation unit providing office and rest areas, and two laboratory containers: one housing instrumentation and data facilities and the second providing laboratory facilities for sample handling.

During this award period, the facility was utilized by researchers and students from a wide range of U.S. universities to undertake fundamental research, and by the federal agencies NOAA and NASA for support of long-term monitoring programs studying the chemistry and physics of the remote marine atmosphere.  Other users included a US defense contractor and researchers from Canada and the United Kingdom. The facility also hosts a sampling location for the US National Atmospheric Deposition Program, contributing to a network of sites and collaborators across North America to provide a long-term record of rainwater chemistry.

The successful operation of the BIOS Tudor Hill Marine Atmospheric Observatory has ensured the continued availability and use of the facility by a diverse range of US and international scientists and agencies, and supported a range of educational activities.

Last Modified: 05/18/2025
Modified by: Andrew J Peters