The Eskdalemuir Observatory is a UK national environmental observatory located near

Eskdalemuir Eskdalemuir is a civil parish and small village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, with a population of 265.

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

, Scotland. Built in 1904, its remote location was chosen to minimise electrical interference with geomagnetic instruments, which were relocated here from

Kew Observatory The King's Observatory (called for many years the Kew Observatory) is a Grade I listed building in Richmond, London. Now a private dwelling, it formerly housed an astronomical and terrestrial magnetic observatory founded by King George III. T ...

in London in 1908 after the spread of electric tramcars led to excessive electromagnetic interference there. Eskdalemuir Observatory - geograph

The distinguished meteorologist and mathematician

Lewis Fry Richardson Lewis Fry Richardson, FRS (11 October 1881 – 30 September 1953) was an English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist, and pacifist who pioneered modern mathematical techniques of weather forecasting, and the application of si ...

served as Superintendent at the Observatory between 1913 and 1918.

Purpose

The observatory is situated in the valley of the White Esk river at an altitude of 242m, and so represents the climate of highland in northern Great Britain. It currently monitors: *Meteorological parameters *Solar radiation *Atmospheric pollution *The UK Geomagnetic field *Seismological activity The observatory is managed by the

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS h ...

and the UK

Met Office The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope E ...

Seismic measurements

A closer view of the Seismological Station - geograph

The area has a low background of seismic activity, so is ideal for these measurements. Shortly after 19:00 GMT on 21 December 1988, the observatory's

seismometer A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground noises and shaking such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The outpu ...

s recorded the ground impact of

Pan Am Flight 103 Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by ''Clipper Maid of the Seas'', a Boeing ...

, which crashed into the nearby town of

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town ...

away after being destroyed by a bomb. The event registered 1.6 on the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

. There is a second seismic array approximately 3 km north of the main observatory established by the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ...

, which has been managed by Güralp Systems Ltd since 2002 on behalf of

AWE Blacknest The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research ...

which provides the UK part of the international monitoring network of the

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nations ...

. This network allows covert nuclear tests to be detected via their seismic signatures. At Eskdalemuir it consists of an array covering 10 square km, consisting of two intersecting lines of 10 pits containing seismometers, a seismological vault and a recording laboratory.

Notable staff

*Dr

Arthur Crichton Mitchell Alexander Crichton Mitchell FRSE (1 July 1864 – 15 April 1952), named in some sources as Arthur Crichton Mitchell, was a Scottish physicist with a special interest in geomagnetics who worked for many years in India as a professor and head of a ...

superintendent of the observatory 1916 to 1922 *Dr

Douglas Haig McIntosh Douglas Haig McIntosh FRSE FRMS OBE (1917–1993) was a 20th-century Scottish meteorologist. He was affectionately known as “Mac”. Life McIntoch was born in Leven, Fife on 9 September 1917, and, in what was perhaps a patriotic fever during t ...

worked here 1953 to 1955.

References

External links

Eskdalemuir Observatory operations - BGS website
{{coord, 55, 18, 44, N, 3, 12, 22, W, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1904 Geophysical observatories Meteorological observatories Seismological observatories, organisations and projects Pan Am Flight 103 Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway