Award: OCE-1735504

Owing to its remote geographic location in the western North Atlantic, Bermuda has been a key sampling location for numerous studies of the marine atmosphere. Measurements of various chemicals in the atmosphere 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) has been operating the Tudor Hill observatory as a research site for research activities conducted by BIOS and visiting US and international scientists. The facility consists of the tower, a habitation unit providing dining and study 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 from the University of South Florida and the University of South Carolina to study the input of iron to the ocean from the atmosphere. This is thought to be an important process regulating the productivity of phytoplankton, tiny plants in the surface ocean, which are limited in part by the availability of iron in seawater. The facility was also used by NOAA and NASA for support of long-term monitoring programs studying the chemistry and physics of the remote marine atmosphere. Internationally, researchers from Norway, Canada, and the United Kingdom also undertook research at the facility. 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. The facility is also widely used for BIOS education activities. Last Modified: 08/02/2019 Submitted by: Andrew J Peters