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Surface observations are conducted at the Henties Bay Aerosol Observatory (HBAO; http://www.hbao.cnrs.fr/), a recent regional station in the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The research centre is located on the Sam Nujoma Marine and Coastal Resources Research Centre (SANUMARC) of the University of Namibia in Henties Bay (22∘ S, 14∘05′ E), Namibia (Fig. 1). Henties Bay is a small town in an arid environment with no vegetation, no industrial activity and very little traffic. Energy usage is predominantly a mix of electricity and gas, with some solid fuel combustion (wood) due to low availability. The monitoring site, situated on the university campus, is located on the coast approximately 100 m from the shoreline. To the east are the Namibian gravel plains, 3 km to the south of the campus is the town of Henties Bay and to the north is the Omaruru riverbed (river mouth approximately 100 m from SANUMARC). The population of Henties Bay ranges between 4600 and 6000 inhabitants, according to the Namibia Population and Housing Census Main Report (available at http://cms.my.na/assets/documents/p19dmn58guram30ttun89rdrp1.pdf. Local wind speed and direction were measured with two anemometers also located on the rooftop of HBAO: first, a Campbell Scientific 05103, replaced with a Vaisala WXT530 from September 2017 onwards. Measurements were acquired as 5-min averages. The curation of the meteorological observations was rather simple as sensors are robust and did not suffer the conditions of the site that complicated data curation for other instruments in the marine coastal environment.