The snow pack analyzer is situated on a well-drained cassiope heath in the heart of the main research area in the Zackenberg valley. The snow pack analyzer was installed in August 2013. The station measures the water content, the ice content and the density of the snow in 10, 30 and 50 cm above the ground, when snow is present, using 60 mm wide capacitance ribbons.
Unfortunately, due to technical problems, the snow depth didn't work properly for the first years, therefore snow depth measurements from the Climate station (situated approximately 200 meters south of the SPA), has been included in the file, see remarks. For periods where snow depth measurements exists from both stations they correspond very well. Data from the three capacitance ribbons is only published for periods where the individual ribbon was snow covered.
Adjacent to the capacitance ribbons a SSG-Snow scale, covering an area of 6.72 m2, has been installed. The scale measures the snow water equivalent over this area. Snow properties:Snow properties GeoBasis Zackenberg:The GeoBasis monitoring programme focuses on selected abiotic characteristics in order to describe the state of Greenlandic terrestrial environments and their potential feedback effects in a changing climate. Monitored plot data is up-scaled to a landscape level and is used to improve ecosystem models to be able to quantify these feedback mechanisms. The GeoBasis programme provides an active response to recommendations in international assessments such as ACIA and SWIPA; and is continuously being adapted based on AMAP and other international founded recommendations. Furthermore, the GeoBasis programme is directly involved in several international networks and research projects (e.g. the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) programme, the Nordic Centre of Excellence DEFROST, the Danish Centre of Excellence CENPERM, the EU-projects PAGE21 and INTERACT, and the Arctic Research Centre at Aarhus University). The GeoBasis programme is divided into a number of sub-groups, including:
