CRYONET Site Questionnaire
Site specific metadata:
Name of site: Sermilik Station
Latitude/Longitude/Altitude: 65⁰ 40’N, 38⁰ 10’W, 0-550 m a.s.l.
Landscape type (e.g. arctic coastal, tundra, alpine…): Low arctic coastal zone.
Onsite technical staff: None, but a station caretaker lives in the town Tasiilaq (1 hour by boat, 6 hours on
foot).
All-year round observations y/n: Yes (three automatic climate stations, two with satellite link), plus one
station (with satellite link) directly on the ice surface at Mittivakkat Glacier
Year established: 1993
Link to website if available: Station manager (Email): Morten Pejrup (mp@geo.ku.dk), but daily manager and contact person is Thor
Markussen (thor.markussen@geo.ku.dk), Copenhagen University. On-ice weather station: Michele
Citterio (mcit@geus.dk), GEUS Geological Survey of Denmark and Grenland.
Organisation in charge of station: Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management,
University of Copenhagen
Other information
Monitoring of the atmosphere:
Solid precipitation: Three rain gauges
Snowfall: Percentage of ice and water in
snow and density of snow. Sonic range sensor measures snow depth.
Trace gases: None
Aerosols: None
UV, stratospheric ozone: None
Radiation (longwave, shortwave): Longwave and shortwave (in and out) at climate stations
Others: Temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity and direction
Snow cover
Physical parameters: snow depth from sonic ranger on the glacier
Chemical parameters: None
Others:
Glaciers and ice caps
Mass balance (measured parameters): Winter and summer mass balance measured each year, ice
ablation at the station on the glacier (using GEUS ablation sensor)
Ice flow (measured parameters): Surface velocity of the glacier, all year GPS position at the station on
the glacier.
Basal water pressure (measured parameters): No
Others: Glacier front measurements by dGPS every year; Comparing with available satellite images and
aerial photographs; Annual situation photos from fixed points. Complete surface energy balance at the
automatic station on the glacier. Realtime climate data from the glacier station are contributed to and
freely available from the PROMICE Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet database
(promice.dk)
Sea ice
Mass balance (measured parameters): None
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters): None
Snow on ice (measured parameters): None
Ice chemistry (measured parameters): None
Others:
Permafrost
Borehole measurements (measured parameters): Not on a regular basis
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters): No
Snow on ground (measured parameters): No
Active layer thickness (measured parameters): No
GST:
Others:
Ice sheet
Mass balance (measured parameters): Ice sheet is not in the area
Meteorology: radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure (measured
parameters): No
Snow on ice (measured parameters): No
Ice chemistry (measured parameters): No
Others:
Other measurements (hydrological, ecological, oceanographic, etc)
Hydrology (measured parameters): River discharge in the proglacial valley; sediment load in the river
(three sites); water levels (Q-h relationships); conductivity; dissolved substances (not on a regular basis)
Ecology (measured parameters): Not on a regular basis
Oceanography (measured parameters): Only during intensified field campaigns
Other thematic linkages: Morphological development of an arctic delta using dGPS
Linkages to satellite data (describe validation programs, applications of satellite data, etc.)
Several high resolution satellite scenes gathered for the area including QuickBird, SPOT, Landsat a.o.; 3D
elevation models
Participation in international monitoring programmes such as GAW, GTN-G, GTN-P, ….
Networks and start of contribution:
International Network of Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT), Sediment budgets
in cold environments (SEDIBUD)