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Station
Camp
Shelter
Laboratory
Station
Camp
Shelter
Laboratory

Background

IN1204

Zackenberg Research Station

Arctic

Open

Station

Greenland

Station

1995

March; April; May; June; July; August; September; October

Introduction

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

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.

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.

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.

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 t

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.

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.

Operator

Asiaq, Government of Greenland

Government

Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University

zackenberg@au.dk

Data Source

Partner Institution

No

Location

IN1204

74° 28' 0'' N

20° 34' 0'' W

North America Arctic

38

0

1492

450

0

0

0

Ice-free ground

Climate

Continuous

High Arctic

Snow and Rain

260

10

107

N

-9.2

-19.4

6.1

July

May; June

May; June

June; July; August

Features

Ice cap or glacier; Lake; Mountain; Permanent snowpatches; Rivers; Shoreline; Tundra; Valley; Other

Shrub tundra; Gramminoid tundra; Peatlands; Wetlands; Size of drainage basin: 514 km2, ice cap 30 km away from station.

Disciplines

Anthropology; Archaeology; Astrophysics; Atmospheric chemistry and physics; Climatology; Climate change; Environmental sciences; Fishery; Geocryology; Geodesy; Geology; Geomorphology; Geophysics and seismology; GIS; Glaciology; Hydrology; Isotopic chemistry; Limnology; Mapping; Marine biology; Microbiology; Oceanography; Paleoecology; Paleolimnology; Pollution; Sedimentology; Sociology; Social science; Terrestrial biology

Human Activities

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Infrastructure

IN1204

940

90

Other

A dry lab and a wet lab

0

270

34

Yes

Yes

Fossil fuel

400

24

Staff Capacity

5

25

0

0

31

0

Scientific Equipment

Advanced climate stations, differential GPS, basic laboratory ­equipment, different surveying equipment, microscopes

Free technical support, free access to extensive ecosystem baseline data

Medical Facilities

Yes

0

0

1000

0

0

0

0

Different weapons, VHF radio, PLB

First aid kit

Yes

Yes

Vehicles

Different types of rubberboats

ATV, snowmobiles

Workshop facilities

ICTS (Staff available to assit with constructions)

Communications

E-mail; Satellite phone; VHF

Access

IN1204

Air

Aircraft landing facilities

1

380

20

Yes

Transport and freight

Airplane

1

August

Other

Cargo landed at Daneborg

20

May; June; July; August; September; October

Access To The Facility

Yes

Yes

zackenberg@au.dk

Pictures

Zackenberg Research Station - at dusk (Credits: Henrik Spanggaard Munch)

Musk ox at shelter (Credits: Henrik Spanggård Munch)

Walrus (Credits: Henrik Spanggård Munch)

Living quarters (Credits: Henrik Spanggård Munch)

Benthic fauna (Credits: Peter Bondo Christensen)

Field work in Tundra (Credits: Henning Thing)

Logistics (Credits: Henrik Spanggård Munch)

Sediment trap in Young Sound (Credits: Thomas Juul-Pedersen)

Stream in Zackenberg Valley (Credits: Mikkel Tamstorf)

Supply ship in fjord (Credits: Henrik Spanggård Munch)