Abisko-Stordalen has a long lasting history of climate and vegetation research going back to the 1970s.

The Abisko area is located on the 0°C isotherm which causes the permafrost in the mire to be of sporadic and of very dynamic nature. As a result of recent years warming in the area permafrost has been observed to degrade in many parts of the mires.

The site hosts an ICOS ecosystem station.

The Abisko-Stordalen measurement site (68°21′N, 19°03′E, 360 m asl) is located within the sporadic permafrost zone, adjacent to lake Torneträsk. A large portion of the mire consists of a slightly elevated drained area, altered by wetter depressions, which are not underplayed by permafrost.

Abisko-Stordalen site is operated by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat at their Abisko Scientific Research Station. The station principal investigator is Janne Rinne (SPI).

ICOS Sweden invites other research groups to use the infrastructure. Please fill in our web form.

The site represents a subtype of sub-arctic wetlands, characterized by palsas. Peat depth is 1-3 m and permafrost is usually found at depths below 0.5-1 m. The soil is organic, with 99% organic matter content.

There are three different main types of surface structures:

• dwarf shrub-dominated palsas,
• moss Sphagnum dominated hollows, and
• cottongrass Eriophorum and sedge Carex dominated hollows.

The peatland in Abisko-Stordalen is fed only by precipitation, i.e. it faces ombrotrophic conditions. Depending on soil water content and microtopography, the plant community structure and composition varies between:

• Dry ombrotrophic parts are dominated by crowberry Empetrum hermaphroditum, lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea and cloudberry Rubus chamaemorus;
• semi-wet ombrotrophic parts by the sedge Carex rotundata and the cottongrass Eriophorum vaginatum; and
• wet minerotrophic areas by the cottongrass Eriophorum angustifolium.

Please follow this link to get current weather information.

The Köppen climate classification characterizes the climate in Abisko as humid subarctic with cold summers and cold winters.

The annual mean temperature in Abisko is -0.1°C (data period 1981-2010) with increasing temperatures over the last decades (for the 1961-1990 normal it is -0.9°C).

The location is characterized by belonging to the driest regions of Sweden with a mean annual accumulated precipitation of 332 mm (data period 1981-2010, 10% more compared to the 1961-1990 normal). The low amount of precipitation has profound effects on the palsa features found on the mire.

The length of the vegetation period (i.e. days with a daily mean temperature above 0.4°C) is slightly longer than three months.

Besides standard ICOS measurements (see table below) laughing gas N₂O flux measurements, as an example, are carried out at the site.

For more detailed information please contact Thomas Friborg or Patrick Crill.

All related, continuous, automatic measurements are listed below in alphabetical order. The measurements are carried out either on one of the three small towers, at the earth surface or in the four soil pits. All measurements are carried out within a distance of about 200 m of the igloo.

Variable		Measurement height (m)
air humidity		1.3
	profile	0.35, 0.69, 1.22, 1.88, 2.89
	flux system	2.2
air pressure
air temperature		1.3
	profile	0.35, 0.69, 1.22, 1.88, 2.89
	flux system	2.2
carbon dioxide (CO2)	profile	0.35, 0.69, 1.22, 1.88, 2.89
	flux system	2.2
ground water level	4x
ground water temperature	4x
methane (CH4)	profile	0.35, 0.69, 1.22, 1.88, 2.89
	flux system	2.2
PAR	incoming and outgoing	4.13
	diffuse and total incoming	4.27
precipitation		1.87
snow depth
soil heat flux	4x together with each profile	-0.05
soil moisture	4x together with each profile	0.00 to -0.06 (vertical)
soil temperature	4 profiles	-0.02, -0.05, -0.1, -0.3, -0.5
solar radiation	incoming	4.12
	incoming and outgoing	3.94
sunshine duration		4.27
surface temperature	target temperature
terrestrial radiation	incoming and outgoing	3.94
wind vector	flux system	2.2

2017
• Jammet M., Dengel S., Kettner E., Parmentier F.-J. W., Wik M., Crill P., and Friborg, T. (2017): Year-round CH₄ and CO₂ flux dynamics in two contrasting freshwater ecosystems of the subarctic. Biogeosciences, 14:5189-5216, DOI:10.5194/bg-14-5189-2017

2016
• Douglas P.M.J., Stolper D.A., Smith D.A., Walter Anthony K.M., Paull C., Dallimore S., Wik M., Crill P.M., Winterdahl M., Eiler J.M., and Sessions A.L. (2016): Diverse origins of Arctic and Subarctic methane point source emissions identified with multiply-substituted isotopologues. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 188:163-188, DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2016.05.031
• Hodgkins S.B., Tfaily M.M., Podgorski D.C., McCalley C.K., Saleska S.R., Crill P.M., Rich V.I., Chanton J.P., and Cooper W.T. (2016): Elemental composition and optical properties reveal changes in dissolved organic matter along a permafrost thaw chronosequence in a subarctic peatland. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2016.05.015
• Thornton B.F., Wik M., and Crill P.M. (2016): Double-counting: a challenge to the accuracy of high-latitude methane inventories. Geophys. Res. Letts.,43:12569-12577, DOI:10.1002/2016GL071772, PDF [1MB]
• Wik M., Thornton B.F., Bastviken D., Uhlbäck J., and Crill P.M. (2016): Biased sampling of methane release from northern lakes: A problem for extrapolation. Geophysical Research Letters, 43:1256-1262, DOI:10.1002/2015GL066501
• Wik M., Varner R.K., Walter-Anthony K., MacIntyre S., and Bastviken D. (2016): Climate-sensitive northern lakes and ponds are critical components of methane release. Nature Geoscience, 9:99-105, DOI:10.1038/ngeo2578

2015
• Jammet M., Crill P., Dengel S., and Friborg T. (2015): Large methane emissions from a subarctic lake during spring thaw: Mechanisms and landscape significance. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeoscience, 120:2289-2305, DOI:10.1002/2015JG003137
• Malhotra A. and Roulet N. (2015): Environmental correlates of peatland carbon fluxes in a thawing landscape: do transitional thaw stages matter? Biogeosciences, 12:3119-3130, DOI:10.5194/bg-12-3119-2015
• Hodgkins S.B., Chanton J.P., Langford L.C., McCalley C.K., Saleska S.R., Rich V.I., Crill P.M., and Cooper W.T. (2015). Soil incubations reproduce field methane dynamics in a subarctic wetland. Biogeochemistry, 126:241-249, DOI:10.1007/s10533-015-0142-z
• Tang J., Miller P.A., Crill P.M., Olin S., and Pilesjö P. (2015): Investigating the influence of two different flow routing algorithms on soil-water-vegetation interactions using the dynamic ecosystem model LPJ-GUESS. Ecohydrology, 8:568-581, DOI:10.1002/eco.1526
• Thornton B.F., Wik M., and Crill P.M. (2015): Climate-forced changes in available energy and methane bubbling from subarctic lakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(6):1936-1942, DOI:10.1002/2015GL063189

2014
• Deng J., Li C., Frolking S., Zhang Y., Bäckstrand K., and Crill P. (2014): Assessing effects of permafrost thaw on C fluxes based on multiyear modeling across a permafrost thaw gradient at Stordalen, Sweden. Biogeosciences, 11:4753-4770, DOI:10.5194/bg-11-4753-2014
• Hodgkins S.B., Tfaily M.M., McCalley C.K., Logan T.A., Crill P.M., Saleska S.R., Rich V.I., and Chanton J.P. (2014): Changes in peat chemistry associated with permafrost thaw increase greenhouse gas production. PNAS, 111:5819-5824, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1314641111, PDF [1MB]
• Krüger J.P., Leifeld J., and Alewell, C. (2014): Degradation changes stable carbon isotope depth profiles in palsa peatlands. Biogeosciences, 11:3369-3380, DOI:10.5194/bg-11-3369-2014
• McCalley C.K., Woodcroft B.J., Hodgkins S.B., Wehr R.A., Kim E.-H., Mondav R., Crill P.M., Chanton J.P., Rich V.I., Tyson G.W., and Saleska S.R. (2014): Methane dynamics regulated by microbial community response to permafrost thaw. Nature, 514:478-481, DOI:10.1038/nature13798
• Mondav R., Woodcroft B.J., Kim E.-H., McCalley C.K., Hodgkins S.B., Crill P.M., Chanton J., Hurst G.B., VerBerkmoes N.C., Saleska S.R., Hugenholtz P., Rich V.I., and Tyson G.W. (2014): Discovery of a novel methanogen prevalent in thawing permafrost. Nature Communications, 5, Article number: 3212, DOI:10.1038/ncomms4212
• Tang J., Miller P.A., Crill P.M., Olin S., and Pilesjö P. (2015): Investigating the influence of two different flow routing algorithms on soil-water-vegetation interactions using the dynamic ecosystem model LPJ-GUESS. Ecohydrology, 8(4): 570-583, DOI:10.1002/eco.1526
• Wik M., Thornton B.F., Bastviken D., MacIntyre S., Varner R.K., and Crill P.M. (2014): Energy input is primary controller of methane bubbling in subarctic lakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(2):555-560, DOI:10.1002/2013GL058510
• Zhu Q., Liu J., Peng C., Chen H., Fang X., Jiang H., Yang G., Zhu D., Wang W., and Zhou X. (2014): Modelling methane emissions from natural wetlands: TRIPLEX-GHG model integration, sensitivity analysis, and calibration. Geoscientific Model Development, 7:981-999, DOI:10.5194/gmd-7-981-2014

2013
• Dengel S., Zona D., Sachs T., Aurela M., Jammet M., Parmentier F.J.W., Oechel W., and Vesala T. (2013): Testing the applicability of neural networks as a gap-filling method using CH₄ flux data from high latitude wetlands. Biogeosciences, 10:8185-8200, DOI:10.5194/bg-10-8185-2013
• Horst A., Thornton B.F., Holmstrand H., Andersson P., Crill P.M., and Gustafsson Ö. (2013): Stable bromine isotopic composition of atmospheric CH₃Br. Tellus B, 65:21040, DOI:10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.21040
• Mortazavi B., Wilson B.J., Dong F., Gupta M., and Baer D. (2013): Validation and application of cavity-enhanced, near-infrared tunable diode laser absorption spectrometry for measurements of methane carbon isotopes at ambient concentrations. Environmental Science and Technology, 47(20):11676-11684, DOI:10.1021/es402322x
• Olefeldt D., Turetsky M.R., Crill P.M., and McGuire A.D. (2013): Environmental and physical controls on northern terrestrial methane emissions across permafrost zones. Global Change Biology, 19:589-603, DOI:10.1111/gcb.12071
• Wik M., Crill P.M., Varner R.K., and Bastviken D. (2013): Multiyear measurements of ebullitive methane flux from three subarctic lakes. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences, 118(3):1307-1321, DOI:10.1002/jgrg.20103

2012
• Lupascu M., Wadham J.L., Hornibrook E.R.C., and Pancost R.D. (2012): Temperature sensitivity of methane production in the permafrost active layer at Stordalen, Sweden: A comparison with non-permafrost northern wetlands. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 44:469-482
• Hasan A., Pilesjö P., and Persson A. (2012): On generating digital elevation models from liDAR data-resolution versus accuracy and topographic wetness index indices in northern peatlands. Geodesy and Cartography, 38(2):57-69, DOI:10.3846/20296991.2012.702983

2011
• Wik M., Crill P.M., Bastviken D., Danielsson Å., and Norbäck E. (2011): Bubbles trapped in arctic lake ice: Potential implications for methane emissions. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences, 116:G03044, DOI:10.1029/2011JG001761