General
The site Hyltemossa was established in 2014 in a 30 year old managed spruce forest in southern Sweden. The site hosts a combined Atmosphere and Ecosystem station.
Location
Hyltemossa is located a few kilometers south of Perstorp, in northwestern Skåne ( 56°06′N, 13°25′E, 115 m asl).
Facilities
Hyltemossa Station has a main house and a workshop building. The main house is equipped with a classroom, kitchen, office, four bedrooms and and two bathrooms. It provides the possibility to hold small meetings or courses for up to 14 participants and an opportunity for overnight stay for up to ten persons.
Geology and Soil
The underlying bedrock at the site, found in a depth from 20 - 50 m, is composed mainly from acidic intrusion rock such as Granite with some limited occurrence of a younger ultrabasic rock such as Gabbro.
Quaternary deposits at the center of Hyltemossa Site are dominated by sandy till surrounded by glaciofluvial sediments. Occasionally fen peat and to a small extend crystalline rock and boulders can be found.
Soil at the site is classified as Cambisol with a shallow organic horizon, a transition to Podsol can be found in certain areas. Stones in various sizes are found frequently and in some areas influence of groundwater is obvious in 1 m depth.
Vegetation
The site around the tower is dominated by Norway spruce (Picea abies) with a small fraction of birch trees (Betula sp.) and single occurrence of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). Understorey vegetation is sparse. The forest floor is mainly covered by a thick moss layer.
The forest is owned and managed by Gustafsborg Säteri AB (www.gustafsborg.se). The management turnover rate is 50 years, with an estimated growth of 34 m within 100 years. The site experienced storm damage in 1981, was clear-cut in 1982 and replanted in 1983 with 3300 trees per hectare. The forest was cleaned in 1998 and 2005 and thinned in 2009 and 2013. At the present time the forest stand is 19 m tall and holds around 190 m3 per hectare (excluding branches, stumps and roots).
Click here to see a satellite image time lapse 1984-2016 on Google Earth Engine.
Climate
Data for the 1961-1990 climatological normal from the close by SMHI station Ljungbyhed characterizes the climate as a Cfb-climate (after Köppen), i.e. humid temperate with mild summers and mild winters. Mean annual air temperature for Ljungbyhed is 7°C and mean annual precipitation sums up to 830 mm.
Measurements
The measurements are carried out either on the 150 m high tower, at the earth surface, or in a soil pit and on a tree in one of the four continuous measurement points located around the tower. All measurements are carried out within a distance of about 200 m of the tower.
Contact
Michal Heliasz is the station principal investigator for the combined ICOS Atmosphere and Ecosystem station at Hyltemossa, and can be contacted regarding its data and measurements. Tobias Biermann is Hyltemossa station manager and can be contacted regarding station visits and set-up of field experiments. To contact the station email: hyltemossa(at)icos-sweden.se
