The cleanest air blows over Carna: MaREI Researchers feature in the Tuam Herald

During World War Two the Irish government set up the Coastguard, operating from a network of lookout posts around the coast. One of these was at Mace Head, near Carna in Connemara. When the war was over it was here that an atmospheric research station that is now of worldwide importance was born. The wind that blows into Mace Head is as pure as you will get in the Northern Hemisphere. It has come more than 3,000 kilometres over the Atlantic and before that the northern Canadian wastelands. It is the cleanest air in Europe, but it is still dirty.

Of the two buildings at Mace Head that look westwards over the island of Croaghnakeela towards Newfoundland, one is devoted to the measurement of particles, the other of gases.

The team at NUI Galway combine data with state-of-the art modelling technology to bring climate and air pollution data into the palm of your hand through a real-time app StreamAIR, distilling down the science into useful service to the citizen.

Find it in the app store.

To read the full feature follow the link here