After many years of measurements in Almbergasjön in Abisko, SITES Water is being moved to a lake in Stordalen. The peatland area of Stordalen already has infrastructure within SITES Spectral and ICOS.
By bringing together SITES Water, SITES Spectral, and ICOS in the same area, the potential for synergies that strengthen environmental monitoring and research increases. This initiative allows the area's terrestrial, hydrological, and aquatic processes to be interconnected. It creates new opportunities for the station's visiting researchers to collaborate, integrate research projects, and conduct holistic studies of the entire Stordalen catchment area and how different ecosystems are interconnected.
As part of the relocation, the weather station on the shore of Almbergasjön has been dismantled and transported to Stordalen. A new raft has been built for water measurements, such as temperature, conductivity, and oxygen. The new raft will be put into operation during the ice breakup, which occurs sometime at the end of May 2024. During the winter, the spectral tower in the birch forest in Stordalen has also been renovated. New sensors for spectral measurements will be installed during the upcoming field season.
The frame of the new raft that will be launched in Stordalen (Left, Photo: Niklas Rakos). Dismantling the weather station on the shore of Almbergasjön (Center, Photo: Erik Lundin). The new boat will be used to access the measurement equipment in the lake in Stordalen, water sampling, and more (Right, Photo: Niklas Rakos).