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Pallas & Sodankyla
Webcam from panoraama.com
Arctic Research Centre at Sodankylä
Location: 67.37 N, 26.65 E, 180 m asl (591 ft asl)
Governing institution: Finnish Meteorological Institute
Station contact: Jussi Paatero (Jussi.Paatero@fmi.fi)
Main web site: http://fmiarc.fmi.fi/
http://www.fmi.fi/research_polar/polar_2.html
Facilities: The Arctic Research Centre in Sodankylä has several buildings and locations associated with it. At the Sodankylä location, there's a Main, Old Main, Technical, Receiving, and Operating building plus a Meteorological Mast. These structures contain offices, guest rooms, workshops, storage, an area for a microwave radiometer, and an antenna to gather satellite data. An Ozone Satellite Data Center is also located on the base and is the location of the Receiving Building.
Station Mission/Purpose: Historically, the main research taking place at the Arctic Research Centre concerns ozone. Other projects include investigations of the upper atmosphere, the boundary layer, atmosphere-biosphere interactions, and UV impact in the Arctic.
Site News:
Topography and History: Measurements at the base date back to the middle of the 19th century. In 1858, the first weather station at Sodankylä was constructed and 1949 marks the first year that twice daily radiosondes were launched. The town of Sodankylä is easy to access via international travel. It is surrounded by low hills, woodlands and lies underneath the area of stratospheric ozone depletion. The Arctic Research Centre is associated with two additional sites, the Luosto Weather Radar and the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory.
Luosto Weather Radar:
Location: 67.08N, 26.54E, 532m (1,745ft asl)
The radar began taking measurements in September of 2000. Radar coverage encompasses the majority of Lapland at a fine resolution. A large antenna and and digital receiver account for the enhanced resolution provided by this instrument. Studies into improved radar technology and signal processing also take place at Luosto.
Sodankylä Geophsyical Observatory (SGO):
Location: 67.22N, 26.38E, 180m (591ft asl)
The Observatory was established in 1913 as a part of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and has been an independent research department of the University of Oulu since 1997. Measurements of the magnetic field, magnetic pulsations, cosmic radio noise, upper atmospheric radio soundings, ionospheric tomography, seismic recordings, and cosmic rays all take place at SGO.
Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Research Programme at Pallas
Location: Pallas has five research sites
Governing institution: Finnish Meteorological Institute
Station contact: Juha Hatakka (juha.hatakka@fmi.fi)
Main web site: http://fmigaw.fmi.fi/
Topography and History: The program at Pallas has been operational since 1994. There are five sites that make up the GAW base in Finland. Sammaltunturi is the main GAW station, Laukukero and Kenttarova are automatic weather stations (AWS), and Matarova and Lompolojankka measure eddy covariances and sample atmospheric chemistry. The topography of each of the five locations varies significantly from bog to forest. The distance between Sodankylä and Pallas is only 125km. Pallas was established to take atmospheric samples due to the Sodankylä Observatory's nearness to the the town of Sodankylä. Tropospheric samples collected at the Observatory are influenced by pollution from the town. Pallas is farther removed from human influence allowing for the aquisition of cleaner air samples.
Sammaltunturi (main GAW station)
Location: 67.974 N, 24.116 E, 560 m asl (1837 ft asl)
Facilities: Two buildings make up Sammaltunturi, an older building and a new structure completed in 2001. Equipment includes meteorological and atmospheric chemistry instrumentation.
Purpose and History: The purpose of the main station is to take both surface meteorological and atmospheric chemistry measurements. Specifically, data on CO2, aerosols, NO, NO2, O3, SO2, and ambient Hydrogen are gathered at this location. The station is situated in the Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park. At 560m, Sammaltunturi is 100m above the tree line with little vegetation. Altitude also contributes to the station's varying location above and below the inversion, a significant factor in determining air quality conditions and mixing.
Laukukero (mountain station)
Location: 68.07N, 24.03E, 765m asl (2510ft asl)
Facilities: Laukukero contains one small building with a computer and outdoor instruments to record met data.
Purpose and History: This station is at the highest altitude of the 5 Pallas locations. It was originally built and still is used as an automatic weather station.
Matarova (boreal forest)
Location: 68.0 N, 24.23 E, 340 m asl (1115 ft asl)
Facilities: There is one building equipped with sampling filters, an office area, and daily aerosol samplers.
Purpose and History: Matarova is located approximately 6km to the northeast of Sammaltunturi and has been around since 1995. In 2000, the building was expanded to make room for more instruments. This station primarily takes atmospheric samples for the study of air quality and aerosols and is the one Pallas location not in the Pallas-Ounstunturi National Park.
Kenttärova (boreal forest)
Location: 67.98 N, 24.25 E, 357 m asl (1171 ft asl)
Facilities: This station has one building and a 20m measurement tower.
Purpose and History: Kenttarova began operations in 2002 and is 1.4km south of Matorova station. The weather instruments used at the discontinued Pallasjarvi (weather) station were moved to Kenttarova. In addition to basic met measurements, data on CO2 and energy fluxes is also acquired.
Lompolojänkkä (open bog)
Location: 68.0 N, 24.22 E, 269 m asl (883 ft asl)
Facilities: There is one building with a structure to place air sampling devices at varying heights.
Purpose and History: Lompolojankaa was opened in March 2005 and sits in a subarctic wetland. Measurements at the station are focused on CO2 and CH4 fluxes and concentrations.
Table of Measurements
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Measurement/Instruments
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Time
Period
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PIs/Organization
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Arctic Research Centre at Sodankylä
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Meteorology - surface syn obs
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Meteorology - upper air
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Precipitation
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Ozone - surface
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Ozone - upper air
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Total ozone
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Radio nuclides
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Radiation (global, diffuse, reflected, direct, global UV)
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Boundary-layer research tower (Latent and sensible heat, momentum, ozone, temperature, winds, gradients of [CO2], radiation components)
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UV-index
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Aerosol sondes
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Aerosol optical depth
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Stratospheric water vapor
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Eddy-covariance fluxes of CO2
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Number concentration of condensation nuclei
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NO2 column
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Snow depth
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Greenhouse gases
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Soil measurements
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UVB-UVA radiation
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| Evaporation |
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Finnish Environment Institute |
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Pallas Stations:
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Atmospheric Research Station at Sammaltunturi (GAW site)
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Meteorology - surface
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Greenhouse gases
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E. Dlugokencky and T. Conway (NOAA); J. Hatakka (FMI)
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Radio Nuclides
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J. Paatero (FMI)
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Aerosol
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H. Linavainen (FMI)
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Reactive Gases
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P. Novelli (NOAA)
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Matorova - boreal forest
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Meteorology - surface
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Gases
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Heavy metals
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Mercury
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Sulphates
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Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
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CCN
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Precipitation chemistry
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Kenttärova - boreal forest
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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CO2 flux
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Air temperature
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Soil moisture & temperature
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Snow depth
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Lompolojänkkä - open bog
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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CO2 flux
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Air temperature
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Laukukero - mountain station
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Meteorology - surface
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Other Stations
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Luosto Fell
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Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Weather radar
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Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory
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University of Oulu
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Geomagnetic
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Seismic
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Ionispheric
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Cosmic rays
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Riometer
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Pulsation
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All-sky camera
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Infrasound
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ELF-VLF
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Ionispheric tomography
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Other relevant links:
Data archives:
Pallas and Sodankylä database
BALTEX Sodankylä sounding archive (NCAR)
Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA)
Informational links:
Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) - Pallas Station page
Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) - Sodankylä Station page
IPY Activities at FMI
Sodankylä and Pallas site report - updated 2008
Sodankylä ENVINET
All information on this page was gathered from the web sites and links listed above. We welcome your comments - if you have any additions or corrections that apply to this page, please forward them to lisa.darby@noaa.gov.
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