Eskdalemuir Observatory

[1] The observatory is situated in the valley of the White Esk river at an altitude of 242 metres (794'), and so represents the climate of highland in northern Great Britain.

Shortly after 19:00 GMT on 21 December 1988, the observatory's seismometers recorded the ground impact of Pan Am Flight 103, which crashed into the nearby town of Lockerbie 14 miles (23 km) away after being destroyed by a bomb.

[2] There is a second seismic array approximately 2 miles (3 km) north of the main observatory established by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, which has been managed by Güralp Systems Ltd since 2002 on behalf of AWE Blacknest which provides the UK part of the international monitoring network of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

[3] Following the conventions of Kew Observatory, which preceded Eskdalemuir as a national geophysical laboratory, atmospheric electricity measurements formed a key part of the early operations.

The Eskdalemuir potential gradient was found to be correlated with measurements made simultaneously on the Carnegie research ship.