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Facilities

ICOS Östergarnsholm welcomes individual researchers and research groups to come to our measurement site and use existing infrastructure for their own measurements and collaborations. Regardless if it is a research visit with placement of equipment on our measurement tower, hut or in the form of ship-based measurements passing by our site we welcome you and will do our best to accommodate your needs.

mast
Measurement masts at the site.
Infrastructure
Photograph of the site infrastructure taken from the 10 m tower showing the measurement hut, power supply system components and also cables from the towers and the hut, which contains data loggers.
Map
Aerial photograph of the southern tip of the island with locations of the tower, measurement hut, diesel generator and harbor at Östergarnsholm indicated at the map (figure adapted from Lantmäteriet).

Östergarnsholm is a remote island reachable by boat from Gotland run by local citizen on contract with Uppsala University. The site is usually visited about every second month for maintenance if weather and ocean conditions are permitting this. The buoy sensors are typically exchanged twice per year with factory calibrated instruments. There is no ice cover on the site, however the harbor in Herrvik on the east coast of Gotland, where the boat is starting from, can freeze in the wintertime making the site seasonally difficult to access. The typical annual atmospheric temperature range is from -20oC to +20oC on the site.

boat
Photograph of the boat usually transporting personnel and equipment between Herrvik and Östergarnsholm.

There is no grid power on Östergarnsholm but the site has its own power supply consisting of wind turbines, solar panels and a backup diesel generator owned by Uppsala University and monitored by an external company. It is an autonomous system delivering 12 V, 24 V and 230 V. The total electricity capacity available on the site is about 2.5kW (in operation since November 2016). The diesel generator is placed approximately 400 m north from the measurement tower (close to the old harbor) to minimize influence on the measurements.

Diesel generator
Photograph of the diesel generator located close to the old harbor at Östergarnsholm.
Measurement hut
Photograph of the small measurement hut and in the background solar panels, wind turbines as part of the autonomous power supply system available on the site.

There is a small unheated measurement hut shared by Uppsala University, Stockholm University and visitors with an available space of approximately 6.5 m2. For temporary storage there is also some limited space inside a stainless-steel shipping container used for a large battery bank as part of the power supply system. There is data connection in the form of 3G modem on the site. There are no motor vehicles on the island. There is a cart to pull equipment from the harbor to the site.

 

Solar panels
Power supply container with solar panels and two wind turbines and far in the background the backup diesel generator is also visible