Zackenberg Research Station

Station name and owner

Zackenberg Research Station is owned by the Government of Greenland. Aarhus University (Denmark) is responsible for running the station.

Location

Zackenberg Research Station is located in Young Sund – Tyroler­fjord complex in Northeast Greenland. The station is situated in the southern part of the National Park of North and East Greenland, the largest national park in the world (approximately 1 million km2). The nearest settlement is the military outpost Daneborg (with a marine research facility) 25 km southeast of the station. The nearest town is Ittoqqortoormiit, 450 km south of the station.

Climate data

Grey colours are WMO Climate Normals including maximum and minimum values. Blue colours are individual years.

Climate data for the stations where extracted via Copernicus Climate Data Store, from the global gridded reanalysis product: ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present. Description and source code: Roemer J.K. 2023. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10214922 Data Source: Hersbach et al. 2023. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

Biodiversity and natural environment

Zackenberg Research Station is situated in the High Arctic in an area with continuous permafrost. The study area comprises the drainage basin of the river Zackenbergelven, with a total size of c. 500 km2. A great variety of biotopes like ponds, fens, heaths, fell field plateaus and grasslands occur within the core study area. Muskoxen, lemming, Arctic fox, and Arctic hare are among the common mammals in the area, while polar bear and Arctic wolf are occasional visitors.

History and facilities

In 1974, a national park was established in Northeast Greenland, which became a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1977. In 1991, the first expedition under the research programme Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations was made to Zackenberg. In 1995, a temporary field station was established, and in 1997 Zackenberg Research Station was officially opened. Each year, the station is manned from 1 May to 31 October. In the remaining part of the year, the station is only in use if needed. The station has 25 beds, two laboratories, a workshop, a mess with cook, and satellite-based telephone, fax, and email service. An accommodation and laboratory facility is located next to the military outpost Daneborg. This facility accommodates 10 scientists.

General research and databases

Zackenberg Research Station provides facilities for specific but comprehensive research projects and for an extensive long-term research/ monitoring programme, called Zackenberg Basic. Zackenberg Basic consists of five sub-programmes: ClimateBasis (monitoring the climate), GeoBasis (monitoring the carbon balance of the ecosystem, other feedbacks to Climate Change, and physical landscape processes), BioBasis (monitoring the living nature), MarineBasis (monitoring physical and biological processes in the marine ecosystem), and GlacioBasis (monitoring the mass balance of local glaciers). At the station, there are approximately 25 ongoing projects per year, of which about two third focus on Climate Change feedbacks. Results from the research and monitoring at Zackenberg are reported in the ZERO Annual Reports published by Aarhus University. PDF-versions of the annual reports are available at www.zackenberg.dk. The database of the Zackenberg Basic monitoring is available for direct access through the internet at data.g-e-m.dk. This homepage also holds the manuals for the different monitoring sub-programmes. All data from Zackenberg Basic are provided free-of-charge to any scientist interested in making use of the data for scientific purposes. Existing databases also include a bibliography of publications arising from research at the station since it opened in 1995, and a GIS of the study area with access through the internet.

Link to data: https://dataportal.eu-interact.org/stations

Station Monitoring

• Climate
  • Meteorology
    • Air temperature
    • Air humidity
    • Air pressure
    • Wind velocity
    • Wind direction
    • Precipitation
  • Energy balance and radiation
    • Short wave incoming
    • Short wave outgoing
    • Long wave incoming
    • Long wave outgoing
    • Net radiation
    • UV-B
• Geo
  • Geology/Geomorphology
    • Quaternary geology
    • Sedimentology
    • Bedrock geology
    • Erosion
  • Sub-surface characteristics
    • Ground surface temperature
    • Soil temperature
    • Soil moisture
    • Ground water table
    • Active layer depth
    • Permafrost distribution
    • Permafrost temperature
  • Snow characteristics
    • Snow depth
    • Snow cover
    • Snow density
    • Snow temperature
  • Atmospheric composition
    • CO₂ concentration
    • CH₄ concentration
  • Greenhouse gas exchange
    • CO₂ exchange
    • CH₄ exchange
  • Energy budget
    • Net radiation
    • Sensible heat flux
    • Latent heat flux
    • Soil heat flux
  • Hydrology/Limnology
    • River water discharge/water level
    • Lake water level
    • Water balance
    • Water temperature
    • Lake ice cover (formation/breakup/thickness)
    • Suspended sediment discharge
    • Organic matter discharge
    • PAR (Photosyntetically Active Radiation)/secchi depth
    • Water chemistry
  • Pollution
    • In air
• Glacier
  • Glacier characteristics
    • Elevation change
    • Ice thickness
  • Mass balace
    • Mass balance
    • Snow water equivalent
    • Duration of snow cover
  • Climate
    • Climate measurements
    • Energy balance
  • Glacier hydrology
    • Run-off
• Bio
  • Vegetation
    • Flowering phenology
    • Amount of flowering
    • NDVI (plot/transect)
    • Landscape NDVI (from satellite images)
    • Vascular plant community composition
    • Berry production
    • Species list (community composition)
  • Arthropods
    • Abundance
    • Emergence phenology
    • Insect herbivory
    • Species list (community composition)
  • Birds
    • Abundance
    • Distribution
    • Phenology
    • Breeding birds
    • Nest initiation phenology
    • Nest predation rates
    • Species list (community composition)
  • Mammals
    • Mammal abundance
    • Mammal distribution
    • Mammal reproduction
    • Species list (community composition)
  • Lake ecology
    • Phytoplankton (including chlorophyll)
    • Zooplankton
    • Fish
    • Invertebrates
    • Species list (community composition)
  • Genetics
    • Collection of genetic material
  • Socio-ecological issues (disturbance)
    • Number of visitors
    • Surface activities (e.g. removal of vegetation, organisms, soil samples, ATV traffic, manipulations)
    • Aircraft activities
    • Emissions/discharge energy consumption, spill water, waste, garbage, atmospheric emissions, etc.)

Human dimension

The nearest town is Ittoqqortoormiit, 450 km to the south. The population in Ittoqqortoormiit is approximately 450 people. Zackenberg Research Station cooperates with other field stations in Greenland (Arctic Station, Sermilik Station, and Greenland Institute of Natural Resources), and two Greenlandic research institutes (Asiaq and Pinngortitalerifik) are involved in the work at Zackenberg.

Access

Transport to and from Zackenberg Research Station is handled by the Zackenberg Secretariat at Aarhus University as a package solution from any airport serviced by Icelandair. Travels are based on a combination of commercial flights (to Akureyri on Iceland) and chartered flights (from Akureyri to Zackenberg). It is mandatory to submit an application to the Zackenberg Secretariat prior to the visit of the station. The application will be reviewed by a scientific committee and afterwards the secretariat will take care of all practicalities in relation to logistics.