The Arctic is warming at an amplified rate compared with the global average. This has and will continue to have large implications for Arctic ecosystems and their functioning. There is thus an urgent need to monitor and understand the consequences of a changing climate for Arctic ecosystems and related feedback effects on the climate system. The GeoBasis programme is a part of the integrated, cross-disciplinary Greenland Environmental Monitoring (GEM) programme, and has been monitoring the terrestrial, abiotic environments in Green-land since 1995. Monitoring activities are continuously adapted based on international rec-ommendations. The programme focuses on selected physical and chemical characteristics in order to describe the state of Greenlandic terrestrial ecosystems and their potential feedback effects in a changing climate.

 

During 2018, GeoBasis-Zackenberg will commence its 24th field season and will focus on maintaining the integrity of the long-term abiotic monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems in high Arctic Zackenberg. Continued, uninterrupted time series of an impressive range of essential climate variables in high Arctic terrestrial ecosystems will be ensured. The project will provide an important contribution towards an improved understanding of the implica-tions of a warming Arctic and related climatic feedback effects. Obtained data will be made freely available for research, education and outreach through the GEM database as well as through external research projects and databases. In line with the GEM strategy 2017-2021, we will focus on energy fluxes, hydrology and scaling of ecosystem processes in time and space. 

 

PI: Magnus Lund

Field site: Zackenberg, N.E. Greenland

 

Link to Isaaffik website