Eskdalemuir Observatory
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The Eskdalemuir Observatory is located near Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built in 1904, its remote location was chosen to minimise electrical interference with geomagnetic instruments, which were relocated there from Kew Gardens in 1908 after the advent of electrification in London led to interference with instruments.
The distinguished meteorologist and mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson served as Superintendent at the Observatory between 1913 and 1918.
The observatory currently monitors:
- Climatological data;
- Solar radiation;
- Atmospheric pollution;
- Geomagnetic fields; and
- Seismological data.
In the early evening of 21 December 1988, the observatory's seismometers recorded the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the nearby town of Lockerbie in an event registering 1.6 on the Richter scale.
It is presently managed by the British Geological Survey and the Met Office.
There is also a second seismic array approx 3km north which has been run by Guralp Systems Limited since 2002 on behalf of AWE Blacknest providing the UK part of the international monitoring syatem of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which allows covert nuclear tests to be detected via their seismic signatures. It consists of an array covering 10 square km of two insersecting lines of 11 pits containing seismometers, a seismological vault and a recording laboratory.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
A Scientific Workshop Threatened by Applied Science: Kew Observatory to Be Removed Owing To The Disturbance Caused by Electic Traction, The Illustrated London News, August 8th 1903
[edit] External links
- Eskdalemuir Observatory
- Webcam and weather data
- Review article about the 100 years of the Observatory
