Metadata for monitoring activities
Below you find a short overview of monitoring activities, followed by tables with more detailed metadata.
Geographical data
Station name: Villum Research Station, Station Nord.
Coordinates: 81° 36'5.26” N, 16° 39'43.31” W, 24 m ASL
Time zone UTC -0. Polar sunset is 16 October and Polar sunrise 25 February.
Climate monitoring - overview
Villum Research Station operates a climate station, being situated ca. 2 km outside Station Nord. The climate station measures air temperature, air pressure, air humidity, wind velocity and direction, short wave incoming and outgoing radiation, net radiation and UVB-radiation.
Two 20 m cores in the ground are established to measure the temperature profile in order to determine; seasonal behaviour, the depth of the active layer and the trend of these over the years to come.
For further details see the table below: Climate monitoring - details.
Atmospheric monitoring - overview
Link to on-line data for Ozone, Mercury and meteorological parameters.
Current and previous monitoring programme
An extensive number of air pollutants are being measured at Villum Research Station, Station Nord.
The current measurement programme is a substantial upgrade of an existing air pollution monitoring station at Station Nord. A long-term monitoring programme on air pollution has been maintained by Aarhus University based on funding from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency since 1990. Until 2014 the monitoring was carried out from a small house, Flyger’s Hut, being situated 2 km outside Station Nord. In 2014 and early 2015 the atmospheric monitoring was being moved to new facilities in a 110 m2 observatory with several air inlets being situated 2 km outside Station Nord and c. 500 m from Flyger’s Hut.
Data from the atmospheric monitoring programme are provided free-of-charge to scientists working at Villum Research Station.
Contact persons:
- Physical characterisation of aerosols: Andreas Massling, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University.
- Offline chemical analyses: Rossana Bossi, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University.
- Other data: Henrik Skov, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University.
For further details see the tables below:
Climate monitoring - details
The table below summarises activities related to climate carried out at Villum Research Station, Station Nord.
Activities | Data availability | Instruments |
Meteorological parameters (by Danish Meteorological Institute) | At least from 1961 | Synoptic data |
Climate: Wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, solar flux (in and out), precipitation, snow depth, | July 2014 - present. | Set up by ASIAQ (Greenland) |
2 permafrost cores of 20 m depth with temperature sensors. | July 2014 - present | Set up in collaboration with UNIS |
.
Atmospheric monitoring - details
The table below summarises the air pollution measurements carried out at Villum Research Station, except for persistent organic compounds (see separate table).
Activities | Data availability | Instruments |
Filter pack measurements of SO2, SO42-, NO3- and NH4+ | 1990- June 2002 and July 2006- present | IC and segmented flow analyser |
Filter pack measurements of elements from Al and higher (except Cl, and Hg) | 1990- June 2002 and July 2006- present | ICP-MS |
O3 | 1997-2002 and 2006 – present | O3 monitor using UV absorption |
Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) | August 1999 – 2002 and 2006- present | GEM monitor using Cold vapour fluorescence spectroscopy
|
Black Carbon | 2008- present | (PSAP, MAAP) |
CO
| July 2006- present
| CO monitor using IR absorption spectroscopy From 2012 a CO monitor using gas chromatography and a Hg reduction detector |
NOx | Jan. 2009 - present | NOx monitor using chemiluminescence |
High volume sampling equipped with particle filtre and PUF, XAD, PUF sandwich plug to measure chlorinated pesticides.
Brominated flame retardants measured with high volume sampler (same as chlorinated pesticides)
Persistent fluorinated compounds measured with a specially designed high volume sampler |
July 2006- present
July 2006- present
January 2007- present | GC-HRMS, LC-MS-MS |
CH4 and CO2 gradients with a Picaro | January 2012-present | Cavity ring down method |
Particle number size distribution (submicrometer) | July 2010 - present | Custom build Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) |
Particle number size distribution (supermicrometer) | December 2015 - present | GRIMM Optical Particle Counter (OPC) |
Scattering coefficients | December 2015 - present | ECOTECH Three Wavelength Nephelometer (NEPH) |
“Vertical distribution of particle number” height of cloud cover | January 2012 – Present | Ceilometer CL51 |
Supplementary data: Air pollution modelling related to Villum Research Station
Aarhus University operates a hemispheric model (DEHM) on a 150 km x150 km grid size which can be nested to a grid size along the costs of Greenland of 50 km x 50 km. It is applied to describe transport to the Arctic. At present the model describes transport of Hg, ?-HCH and selected PCB's into the Arctic region with focus on the interaction between pollution and climate forcing.
Persistent Organic Compounds measured at Villum Research Station - details
The tables below summarise measurements of persistent organic compounds carried out at Villum Research Station, Station Nord.
Sampling is done with a High Volume sampling sucking 500 Litre min-1 through a filter and a PUF-XAD-PUF cartridge.
Chlorinated compounds:
Matrix | Acronym | Full name |
Air | HCB | Hexachlorobenzen |
Air | a-HCH | a-hexachlorocyclohexane |
Air | b-HCH | b-hexachlorocyclohexane |
Air | g-HCH (Lindane) | g-hexachlorocyclohexane |
Air | d-HCH | d-hexachlorocyclohexane |
Air | Heptachlor | Heptachlor |
Air | Heptachlor epoxide | Heptachlor epoxide |
Air | Aldrin | Aldrin |
Air | Dieldrin | Dieldrin |
Air | Endrin | Endrin |
Air | trans-Chlordane | trans-Chlordane |
Air | cis-Chlordane | cis-Chlordane |
Air | o,p’-DDT | o,p’-DDT |
Air | p,p’-DDT | p,p’-DDT |
Air | o,p’-DDE | o,p’-DDE |
Air | p,p’-DDE | p,p’-DDE |
Air | o,p’-DDD | o,p’-DDD |
Air | p,p’-DDD | p,p’-DDD |
Air | a-Endosulfan | a-Endosulfan |
Air | b-Endosulfan | b-Endosulfan |
Air | Endosulfan sulphate | Endosulfan sulphate |
Air | trans-Nonachlor | trans-Nonachlor |
Air | cis-Nonachlor | cis-Nonachlor |
Air | Endrin ketone | Endrin ketone |
Air | Metoxychlor | Metoxychlor |
*It is not part of the monitoring program but has been measured campaign wise (New Contaminant project).
Brominated compounds:
Matrix | Acronym | Full name |
Air | BDE 17 | Polybrominated diphenylether 17 |
Air | BDE 28 | Polybrominated diphenylether 28 |
Air | BDE 47 | Polybrominated diphenylether 47 |
Air | BDE 66 | Polybrominated diphenylether 66 |
Air | BDE 71 | Polybrominated diphenylether 71 |
Air | BDE 85 | Polybrominated diphenylether 85 |
Air | BDE 99 | Polybrominated diphenylether 99 |
Air | BDE 100 | Polybrominated diphenylether 100 |
Air | BDE 138 | Polybrominated diphenylether 138 |
Air | BDE 153 | Polybrominated diphenylether 153 |
Air | BDE 154 | Polybrominated diphenylether 154 |
Air | BDE 183 | Polybrominated diphenylether 183 |
Air | BDE 180 | Polybrominated diphenylether 180 |
Air | BDE 209 | Polybrominated diphenylether 209 |
Air | a-HBCD | a-Hexabromcyclododecane |
Air | β-HBCD | β -Hexabromcyclododecane |
Air | γ-HBCD | γ -Hexabromcyclododecane |
*Other CAS-numbers for HBCD: 25637-99-4 or 3194-55-6; ¤we do not have this number.
Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS):
Matrix | Acronym | Full name |
Air | 4:2 FTOH | 4:2-fluorotelomer alcohol |
Air | 6:2 FTOH | 6:2-fluorotelomer alcohol |
Air | 8:2 FTOH | 8:2-fluorotelomer alcohol |
Air | 10:2 FTOH | 10:2-fluorotelomer alcohol |
Air | N-Me-FOSA | N-methyl-perfluorooctanesulfonamide |
Air | N-Et-FOSA | N-ethyl-perfluorooctanesulfonamide |
Air | N-Me-FOSE | N-methyl-perfluorooctanesulfonamidoethanol |
Air | N-Et-FOSE | N-ethyl-perfluorooctanesulfonamidoethanol |
|
|
|
Snow | PFBS | Perfluorobutane sulfonate |
Snow | PFHxS | Perfluorohexane sulfonate |
Snow | PFHpS | Perfluoroheptane sulfonate |
Snow | PFOS | Perfluorooctane sulfonate |
Snow | PFDS | Perfluorodecane sulfonate |
Snow | PFOSA | Perfluorooctane sulfonamide |
Snow | PFHxA | Perfluorohexanoic acid |
Snow | PFHpA | Perfluoroheptanoic acid |
Snow | PFOA | Perfluorooctanoic acid |
Snow | PFNA | Perfluorononanoic acid |
Snow | PFDA | Perfluorodecanoic acid |
Snow | PFUnA | Perfluoroundecanoic acid |
Snow | PFDoA | Perfluorododecanoic acid |
Snow | PFTrA | Perfluorotridecanoic acid |
Snow | PFTeA | Perfluorotetradecanoic acid |