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Scotland opens UK’s first purpose-built science tower for real-time emissions monitoring

The 100-metre SOAR tower in Angus can measure more than 60 greenhouse gases and air pollutants, giving researchers direct real-time emissions data.

By The TEA Editorial Desk · 28 August 2026

The new SOAR atmospheric research tower at Balruddery Farm in Angus Image: The James Hutton Institute / AirQualityNewsOriginal source

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A 100-metre science tower has opened in Angus to give a much clearer picture of greenhouse gases moving through the atmosphere.

The Scottish Observatory for Atmospheric , or SOAR, is the UK’s first purpose-built tall tower for this kind of scientific monitoring. Instruments air at 50 and 100 metres and can measure more than 60 greenhouse gases and pollutants.

The facility is jointly owned by the James Hutton Institute and the University of Edinburgh. Its position near Dundee allows it to sample air arriving from the North Atlantic, northern Britain and continental Europe depending on wind direction.

Instead of relying only on estimates of what should have been emitted, researchers can compare those calculations with what is actually in the air. Climate spreadsheets have, essentially, acquired a very tall fact-checker.