Tasmania's Cape Grim: An island with the cleanest air on Earth
Image credit: Sean Scott Venture off the untamed north-western coast of Tasmania, Australia's island state, and you'll stumble upon a remarkably remote peninsula with a foreboding name: Cape Grim, officially known as Kennaook/Cape Grim. Few travelers make their way to this far-flung region, often referred to as the "Edge of the World." But those who do are rewarded with awe-inspiring cliffs, windswept heaths, and black-sand beaches, a stark contrast to the lush farmland atop the hills. This isolation has preserved Cape Grim's raw beauty and earned it a unique claim to fame – it boasts some of the cleanest air on Earth, as confirmed by the air pollution station perched on the cape. Among the 25 atmospheric stations worldwide, the Cape Grim Baseline Atmospheric Pollution Station (CGBAPS), situated atop the cliffs, was established in 1976. Its purpose is to collect and analyze the composition of this pristine air, untainted by local sources of pollution such as vehic...