General
The Svartberget site is located in the Svartberget Experimental Forest. The experimental forest covers 1076 ha of boreal forest land and governs a manifold of research activities since 1923. A reference monitoring program of climate and water is active since 1980.
The site was established for ICOS Sweden in 2011 and hosts a Class 2 combined ecosystem and Class 1 atmospheric station.
ICOScapes presenting Svartberget
Location
The Svartberget site (64°15′N, 19°46′E, 270 m asl) is located about 60 km west of Umeå.
Geology and Soil
The bedrock consists almost entirely of gneiss. The dominating soil type is moraine of various thicknesses.
Vegetation
The Svartberget site is situated on a slope in a 100 years old mixed forest with 60% Scots pine Pinus sylvestris and 40% Norway spruce Picea abies. Tree height close to the tower is about 20m.
overstory species composition (last inventory: 2018)
| species | trees/ha | percentage | Basal Area (m2/ha) |
|---|---|---|---|
| all trees | 1062.5 | 100 | 29.322 |
| Picea Abies L. | 535.4 | 68.2 | 12.701 |
| Pinus sylvestris L. | 414.7 | 19.9 | 14.029 |
| Betula pendula L. | 111.7 | 11.9 | 2.589 |
| Sorbus aucuparia L. | 0.7 | 0.002 |
Climate
The cold humid climate type of the site is attributed by relatively short summer (the growing season is 150 days/year) and permanent snow cover during winter (170 days/year). The mean annual air temperature is 1.8°C and annual precipitation sums up to 614 mm (data period 1981-2010).
Data for the 1961-1990 climatological normal from the close by SMHI station Vindeln characterizes the climate as a Dfc-climate (after Köppen), i.e. humid subarctic with cold summers and cold winters.
Measurements
The measurements are carried out either on the 150 m high tower, at the earth surface, in the four soil pits or on the four trees. All measurements are carried out within a distance of about 200 m of the tower.
Non-ICOS measurements
The ICOS site is located in the heart of Krycklan catchment area, in the centre of a well investigated sub-catchment with long-term hydrological measurement.
Contact
Matthias Peichl is the station principal investigator for the ICOS Ecosystem station at Svartberget, and Paul Smith is the station principal investigator for the ICOS Atmospheric station. They can be contacted regarding data and measurements from these stations at email: svartberget(at)icos-sweden.se
