News archive

As of 1st of January 2025, Dolly Kothawala is the new Station Manager of the Erken Laboratory. Welcome Dolly to the SITES Community!

Tell us about your background

After undergoing a rigorous quality assurance process, Mycklemossen at the Skogaryd Research Catchment (SRC) has achieved the status of an ICOS-labelled station. This certification was confirmed by the ICOS General Assembly on November 6th, 2024.

Since the Abisko Scientific Research Station was established, it has recorded meteorological data along with snow depth and the thickness and duration of ice cover on Torneträsk, forming a unique environmental dataset spanning over a century. Additionally, the station monitors hydrology, water chemistry, flora and fauna, phenology, geomagnetism, and atmospheric carbon isotopes.

On November 25-26, an in-person Steering group meeting was organized at the Skogaryd Research Catchment, one of SITES research stations. At the meeting, Steering Group and SITES Secretariat members gathered to discuss important topics about the network’s future, such as strategic planning, research station support, and collaboration agreements to strengthen the network. 
The group took a tour of the Följemaden rewetting site, where previously drained riparian fen that was used for forestry for decades has now been rewetted as part of an experiment focused on GHG emissions.

As part of the project "En kartläggning om naturligt organiskt material i vatten" ("A survey of natural organic matter in water"), funded by Svenskt Vatten, a second workshop was held on August 20-21, 2024, at the Bolmen Research Station. The workshop brought together representatives from Norrvatten, Stockholm Water and Wastewater, Sydvatten, Laholmsbukten Water and Wastewater, the Swedish Forest Agency, the National Food Agency, the Water Authority, various municipalities, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

As leys (sown grasslands grown in rotation with annual grain crops) constitute upwards of 75% of arable land use in northern Sweden, they represent an important feature of the region’s landscape. SITES Röbäcksdalen is situated within Röbäcksslätten, the largest continuous agricultural land area in northern Sweden. Röbäcksdalen’s research infrastructure includes over 280 hectares of agricultural land, most of which is conventionally managed by the research barn to provide feed for its dairy cows.

At Svartberget Research Station, the integration of research infrastructures and equipment provides a comprehensive perspective on the interconnected dynamics of land, water, and atmosphere.

Are you interested in conducting mesocosm experiments on lakes? SITES AquaNet provides a standardized infrastructure for running mesocosm studies across various lakes. This system features floating platforms with mesocosm enclosures, automatic sensors linked to a data-logging system, and handheld sensors for precise measurements. In this video you can find more information about SITES AquaNet!

A heavy rainstorm, exceeding 91 millimeters of precipitation over just a few days, caused flooding of the SITES Water infrastructure at Röbäcksdalen near Umeå. After four days of rain, the storm surge from Degernäsbäcken and Röbäcken carved new routes across normally dry land.

The flooding damage at Röbäcksdalen was limited to two specific locations, site 1 and site 6: at site 1, the flooding caused temporary data loss from sensors; at site 6, one ring of a concrete water pipe tipped over, requiring work to retrieve it from the bottom of Röbäcken.

The Swedish Infrastructure for Ecosystem Science (SITES), through its Spectral thematic program, is introducing enhanced phenocam-derived products. These updates include snow presence detection in Level 3 time-series data, improved weighted means for vegetation indices, and extended data availability for various regions of interest. These products are critical for advancing vegetation and phenological studies across ecosystems such as farmlands, forests, and wetlands.