Photo: Helge T. Markussen (NPI)
Monitoring in Ny-Ålesund Research Station
At Ny-Ålesund research station, national and international institutions collaborate to collect long-term data series covering a wide range of climate and environmental variables. Through the interactive report presented here, you can explore metadata of ongoing monitoring from Ny-Ålesund Research Station.
Ny-Ålesund is one of the most important Arctic research stations and a key reference site for long-term monitoring of climate and environment. Several national and international research institutions are active here, contributing to the collection of data that helps us understand climate change, ecosystems, and environmental processes in one of the most sensitive regions of the planet.
Over the past years, NySMAC has worked actively to improve access to information about the data collected in Ny-Ålesund. While several dedicated data centres host parts of these research and monitoring datasets, NySMAC has placed particular emphasis on making metadata for all long time series from Ny-Ålesund Research Station easily accessible and searchable, and with a particular focus on the observed variables.
This webpage displays an interactive report providing an overview of ongoing monitoring in Ny-Ålesund. Use the filters to zoom in on a given variable by first selecting the Topic, then the Term, and finally the Observed Variable. The Topic, Term and Observed variable are as defined in NASAs GCMD keywords.
How to navigate Click on the boxes with Term, Topic and Observed Variable to select or deselect them. The table and map shows the filtered measurement points.
Observed Variable Specifies which data are collected, using the NASA GCMD (Global Change Master Directory) keywords: Topic>Term>Observed Variable (under EARTH SCIENCE).
Point of measurement Name of the point of measurement (instrument, installation or field site).
Owner Institution responsible for the measurement point.
Start Year Year when data collection began.
Data availability Link to where the data can be found (DOI or link to data center).
Monitoring Indicates whether the point of measurement is being used for data collection that is part of the owner institution’s monitoring activities in Ny-Ålesund. NySMAC members have agreed that in order for a time series to be defined as monitoring, the data collection should meet three criteria: i) Time Series Length – Typically more than five years. Shorter series may also qualify if the data are particularly valuable or if there is an intention to continue collection beyond five years. ii) Quality and Standards – Data must meet high-quality standards, follow consistent and well-documented methodologies – preferably in compliance with international standards – and a defined data collection protocol is required. iii) Open Access – Data should be openly accessible in standard formats and made available in a timely manner for reuse by the wider research community.
Part of Network Specifies whether the data is part of a national or international network or system. If yes, which one.
RiS ID Unique identifier of the project associated with the data collection, as listed in the Research in Svalbard portal.
Object ID Unique identifier to the Point of Measurement. Additional metadata can be found in Svalbardkartet.
The metadata shown in the interactive report above is from the thematic layer “Ny-Ålesund Research” in Svalbardkartet —often referred to as the Ny-Ålesund GIS. For each point of measurement, additional metadata can be retrieved directly from Svalbardkartet (a quick user guide is available here).
If you are a researcher responsible for a monitoring activity in Ny-Ålesund, and information about your measurements are missing from this overview, please contact NPI’s research coordinator at research.nya@npolar.no and we’ll help you include it.
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