A permanent free tropospheric observatory at Pico summit in the Azores Islands? Past measurements (2001–2005) and future plans.

AGU Fall Meeting. San Francisco, California, 5-9 December 2005.Pico mountain in the Azores Islands provides a base for continuous, free tropospheric measurements that is unique in the central North Atlantic region. The PICO-NARE station was installed there in 2001 as a temporary observatory. However, the location proved ideal for studies of aged emissions from anthropogenic (N. American) and boreal fire (N. American and Russian) emissions, as well as for less frequent interception of European and African plumes. As a result, station operation was continued through summer 2005, and we are planning for continuing operation and conversion into a permanent Portuguese GAW station in the future. This poster will provide an overview of the station, the measurements made there, typical transport pathways to the station and interannual variability in transport, and an overview of the full suite of multi-season observations and key findings from measurements to date. In addition, data availability and near-term and long-term plans for the station's future will be discussed