News archive

On April 11th, the SITES leadership team, formed by the Secretariat, Station Managers and Thematic Programs Leads, gathered for a full-day meeting at the World Trade Center in Stockholm. The day was filled with productive discussions around several key topics that are central for the future of SITES. One major focus was a self-assessment of the work carried out across the network, with the goal of evaluating the achievements and identifying areas for growth and improvement. 

PFAS compounds are synthetic chemicals that are persistent in the environment and have been linked to potential health risks. Their presence in water bodies raises concerns about long-term contamination and ecological effects, making their monitoring crucial for effective control.

The SITES Secretariat together with the system developer team at ICOS have been cooperating with the Swedish National Data Service (SND) on the development of the new web portal Researchdata.se providing input on data harvesting and how to present metadata for SITES and other data providers. This portal has been developed to find, share, and reuse research data from a wide range of research fields. 

At the Svartberget Research Station scientists are planning to launch one of the largest field experiments to evaluate the effect of climate change on the tree growth, carbon sequestration and biodiversity in the boreal forest. The experiment, which will include different types of water limitation (drought) and heating, will feature an unprecedented scale, instrumentation, and level of replication. Designed to run for more than a decade, the project will be funded by the Kempe Foundation and the KAW Wallenberg Initiatives of Forest Research (WIFORCE).

We are excited to announce that, as of March 1st, Marcus Wallin has been appointed as the new director of SITES. Marcus is already well-known in our community, having previously led the SITES Water Program, where he made a significant impact through his leadership and dedication. We look forward to working with Marcus in his new role and seeing the continued growth and success of SITES under his direction! Here is a little more about him:

The recently Formas – funded research project StripES will explore how strip cropping can become applicable at farm-scale in Sweden. For this, a strip cropping trial with economically important crops in Sweden will be established at Alnarps egendom and managed by SITES Lönnstorp Research Station in 2025, and monitored over three years.

Sharing scientific research with the public is becoming increasingly important. To support this, Abisko Scientific Research Station and Tarfala Research Station hosted a Science Café in Kiruna on January 18th 2025.

The Science Café serves as a meeting and dialogue platform for those curious about the work conducted at the stations. Over a coffee, visitors had the opportunity to discuss the latest research, meet the researchers, and gain a behind-the-scenes look at how scientific studies are carried out. The event was free and open to everyone, attracting more than 90 attendees.

Dr. Elizabeth M. Herndon is one of the authors of "Iron Transformation Mediates Phosphate Retention Across a Permafrost Thaw Gradient," published last year in Communications Earth & Environment. As part of the study, researchers conducted sample at Abisko Scientific Research Station. Here, Dr. Herndon shares insights with the SITES Community about the project and her experience sampling at a SITES station.

From January 28 to 31, a joint data retreat was held at Asa Research Station, bringing together members of the SITES Secretariat and colleagues from Asa and Bolmen. The focus was on publishing new data collected within the SITES Water Program to the SITES Data Portal.

Several key updates are now available:

On January 17th, members of the SITES Secretariat met with the staff at Grimsö Wildlife Research Station for the first data retreat of the year. The team reviewed the latest data on fox reproduction, pellet counts, small rodent dynamics and migratory birds.

In addition to these updates, productive discussions were held about uploading several other datasets from Grimsö in the near future. Stay tuned for more developments!

In the meantime, explore the latest data updates from Grimsö here: