CRYONET Site Questionnaire:
Site specific metadata:
Name of site: Zackenberg
Latitude/Longitude/Altitude: 74.5N/21W/0-1500 m.a.s.l.
Landscape type (e.g. arctic coastal, tundra, alpine…): High-Arctic ecosystem covering the marine (fiord),
terrestrial tundra, mountain and glacier environments.
Onsite technical staff: May-October
All-year round observations y/n: Automatic stations year round both on land and on the glacier. Onsite
during late winter, spring, summer and early winter.
Year established: 1995
Link to website if available: http://www.zackenberg.dk
Station manager (Email):
Responsible for the monitoring of AP Olsen Ice Cap: Michele Citterio (mcit@geus.dk) - GEUS,
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland,
Responsible for snow and ice-related data in the terrestrial part: Mikkel Tamstorf (mpt@dmu.dk)
– Aarhus University
Responsible for river discharge and part of climate data outside the glacier: Kisser Thorsøe
(kit@asiaq.gl) – ASIAQ, Greenland Survey.
Responsible for sea ice-related data for the marine part: Thomas Juul-Pedersen (thpe@natur.gl)
– Greenland Institut of Natural Resources
Organisation in charge of station: Aarhus University, Denmark
Other information: Monitoring programs cover all aspects of the abiotic and biotic environment. These
programs are run by different institutions all gathered under the Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring
network.
Monitoring of the atmosphere:
Solid precipitation: Through snow density and depth measurements
Snowfall: Sonic range sensors, automatic density and depth sensors, snow pack temperature profiles
Trace gases: H2O, CO2, CH4 with eddy covariance and during summer and early winter automated
chambers
Aerosols: Passive sampling
UV, stratospheric ozone: UV on central mast
Radiation (longwave, shortwave): Full radiation balance monitored at 5 sites in the area (+3 on the
glacier)
Others: Full energy balance at several stations in the area including 3 on AP Olsen Ice Cap, and sensible
and latent heat fluxes year round.
Snow cover
Physical parameters: Depth, density, layering, cover (point and distributed), meltwater retention (snow
radar distribution of superimposed ice) on AP Olsen Ice Cap, surface albedo.
Chemical parameters: Mercury content
Others: Snow distributed through use of automatic cameras, satellite products and modelling
(SnowModel. Snow depth in transects of 5-8 km by ground penetrating radar (GRP) and manually by
GPS-Magnaprobe (SNOW-HYDRO) and snow pits on land and on the glacier.
Glaciers and ice caps
Mass balance (measured parameters): AP Olsen Ice Cap winter and summer balance by the classic
glaciological method (snow pits and ablation stakes). Volume change by the geodetic method measring
annual GPS transects of surface elevation, combined with airborne lidar (2011) and aerial
stereophotogrammetry (1987). Automatic ablation monitoring at the stations (GEUS ablation meter).
Detection of superimposed ice by snow radar.
On nearby Clavering Island the mass balance of Freya Glacier is also being monitored by Wolfgang
Schöner’s group at ZAMG in Vienna, I assume he is providing that information separately or may add it
to this form.
Meteorology (measured parameters): air pressure, temperature and humidity, wind speed and direction,
incoming and outgoing shortwave and longwave radiation at all stations
Ice flow (measured parameters): year round surface velocity by GPS at the stations, year-to-year
displacement by GPS at the ablation stakes. Ice thickness is known from ice penetrating radar.
Basal water pressure (measured parameters):
Others: near surface weather and full surface energy balance at 3 automatic stations on the ice from the
summit of AP Olsen Ice Cap to close to the terminus, ice temperature profile, surface albedo of snow and
ice, ice thickness from ground based and airborne radar, photographic monitoring of glacier dammed
lake and related glacier lake outburst floods. Recently, a much larger monitoring effort of the glacier
dammed lake has been initiated by Wolfgang Schöner’s group at ZAMG in Vienna, including
glacioseismic and GPR and GPS monitoring.
Sea ice
Mass balance (measured parameters): ice thickness, timing
Meteorology:
Snow on ice (measured parameters): snow thickness
Ice chemistry (measured parameters):
Others:
Permafrost
Borehole measurements (measured parameters): Temperature at 0; 2.5; 5; 10; 20; 40; 60; 80; 100 and
130 cm and down to 20 m, soil moisture in active layer
Meteorology: All relevant climate parameters (air temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed wind
direction, radiation (in- and out, short- and long), PAR, etc.
Snow on ground (measured parameters): Sonic range sensors, Snow Pack Analyzer
Active layer thickness (measured parameters): Weekly probing along with automatic temperature
profiles
GST: Soil temperature in 2.5 cm depth
Others: Soil surface temperatures, Soil heat flux plates
Ice sheet
Mass balance (measured parameters): beyond the limit of the present study area
Meteorology (measured parameters):
Snow on ice (measured parameters):
Ice chemistry (measured parameters):
Others:
Other measurements (hydrological, ecological, oceanographic, etc)
Hydrology (measured parameters): Discharge of Zackenberg River is measured automatically at in the
throughout the melt season. A number of manual discharge measurements are made during the melt
season and sampling twice a day for water temperature and suspended sediment concentration.
Ecology (measured parameters): Plants, birds, Arthropods, Mammals, phenology throughout the
ecosystem processes. See http://www.zackenberg.dk/monitoring
Oceanography (measured parameters): Distribution of physical and chemical parameters in the water
column and sediments (e.g summer distribution of temperature, salinity, nutrients, and chlorophyll in the
water column), Zoo- and phytoplankton, macrofauna and macroalgae
Other thematic linkages: mass balance and mass balance sensitivity of glaciers and ice caps perifreal to
the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Linkages to satellite data (describe validation programs, applications of satellite data, etc.)
200+ high resolution satellite scenes gathered since 1985 for the area including QuickBird, Ikonos,
HyMap (aerial), ASTER, SPOT, Landsat. On A.P. Olsen Ice Cap optical remote sensing provides the
transient snow line, water stand in the glacier dammed lake and the history of glacier terminus positions.
Surface temperature (MODIS, AVHRR).and albedo.
Participation in international monitoring programmes such as GAW, GTN-G, GTN-P, ….
Networks and start of contribution:
International Tundra Experiment (ITEX), The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine
Environments (GLORIA), Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM), Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD),
Hydrology Data and Information Services Center (HDISC), FluxNet, Circumpolar Biodiversity Mapping
Program (CBMP), Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS), International Network of
Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT).
Most contributions have started in the late 90’ies and early 00’s. Some as early as 1995 some not until
recent years