The year 2023 started with a new SITES period at Röbäcksdalen, but there are more new things happening at the station. From the first of January 2023, Röbäcksdalen SITES station is no longer managed under the department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden. After an organization change at SLU, the field station, which houses the majority of the SITES activities, is now part of the Department of Crop Production Science, while the dairy farm is part of the animal infrastructure at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science.

There is a need to optimize forest management in order to contribute to climate change mitigation by enhanced ecosystem carbon storage. Rotation forestry is the most common silvicultural practice in Sweden, but there is an intense debate about its ability to contribute to long-term sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere. Due to the urgent need for nature-based climate change mitigation options, there is now considerable social and scientific interest in the use of continuous cover forestry (CCF), but its effects on carbon sequestration are largely unknown and need to be quantified urgently. Ongoing and future forestry projects are taking place at the Central Forest at Skogaryd Research Catchment (SRC) to address these unknowns.

The SITES 2023 Calendar theme is “Data in Focus”. The openly available data produced within SITES and stored on the SITES Data Portal is the “golden thread” of the infrastructure, allowing users access to ecosystem data that covers diverse habitats and climate zones across geographical gradients in Sweden. Each month follow along as we highlight a unique SITES dataset.  
 

During the month of January most of Sweden is snow and ice-covered, although the duration and intensity of snow and ice has been declining over time due to ongoing climate change. The SITES calendar post for January displays this trend, as ice cover duration on Lake Erken over the past 80 years has been declining. At Erken Laboratory, visual observations of Lake Erken’s ice cover began in the 1940s and continues today, now with the assistance of a monitoring camera on Malma Island. This long-term ice-covered record is one of the most comprehensive in the world.  

Link to data: https://meta.fieldsites.se/objects/QLqXw2wkqxXrr0ahsxeQaWbp

The graph displays the total number of lake ice cover days, i.e. days between the start of continuous ice coverage (> 75% of lake surface ice-covered) and the ice break-up of the observed lake area, over time on Lake Erken between 1941 to 2021. The photo shows Malma Island, where the lake monitoring camera as well as other monitoring sensors are located, and with the Erken Laboratroy in the very background. 

On January 1 the SITES community not only welcomed in the New Year, but also a new, six-year funding period (2023-2028). By the time we gather for the SITES III Kick-off meeting Feb 8‑10 at Asa Station, the incoming SITES Director, Kevin Bishop, will have visited all SITES stations and the Thematic Programs. He is looking forward to kicking-off SITES III this year: 

“Getting to know this infrastructure during my three months of “inskolning” has been an eye-opener to the amazing infrastructure built up during the first decade of SITES existence. Now, with a period of stable funding ahead, SITES can focus on what it is we are here for, providing scientists with access to well documented field sites where they have superb opportunities for doing excellent ecosystem research. I am looking forward to the meeting with many of you in Asa and working together to refine the plans for the coming years of SITES.”

- Kevin Bishop (SITES incoming Director)
 

The year 2023 started with a new SITES period at Röbäcksdalen, but there are more new things happening at the station. From the first of January 2023, Röbäcksdalen SITES station is no longer managed under the department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden. After an organization change at SLU, the field station, which houses the majority of the SITES activities, is now part of the Department of Crop Production Science, while the dairy farm is part of the animal infrastructure at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science.

There is a need to optimize forest management in order to contribute to climate change mitigation by enhanced ecosystem carbon storage. Rotation forestry is the most common silvicultural practice in Sweden, but there is an intense debate about its ability to contribute to long-term sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere. Due to the urgent need for nature-based climate change mitigation options, there is now considerable social and scientific interest in the use of continuous cover forestry (CCF), but its effects on carbon sequestration are largely unknown and need to be quantified urgently. Ongoing and future forestry projects are taking place at the Central Forest at Skogaryd Research Catchment (SRC) to address these unknowns.

The SITES 2023 Calendar theme is “Data in Focus”. The openly available data produced within SITES and stored on the SITES Data Portal is the “golden thread” of the infrastructure, allowing users access to ecosystem data that covers diverse habitats and climate zones across geographical gradients in Sweden. Each month follow along as we highlight a unique SITES dataset.  
 

During the month of January most of Sweden is snow and ice-covered, although the duration and intensity of snow and ice has been declining over time due to ongoing climate change. The SITES calendar post for January displays this trend, as ice cover duration on Lake Erken over the past 80 years has been declining. At Erken Laboratory, visual observations of Lake Erken’s ice cover began in the 1940s and continues today, now with the assistance of a monitoring camera on Malma Island. This long-term ice-covered record is one of the most comprehensive in the world.  

Link to data: https://meta.fieldsites.se/objects/QLqXw2wkqxXrr0ahsxeQaWbp

The graph displays the total number of lake ice cover days, i.e. days between the start of continuous ice coverage (> 75% of lake surface ice-covered) and the ice break-up of the observed lake area, over time on Lake Erken between 1941 to 2021. The photo shows Malma Island, where the lake monitoring camera as well as other monitoring sensors are located, and with the Erken Laboratroy in the very background. 

On January 1 the SITES community not only welcomed in the New Year, but also a new, six-year funding period (2023-2028). By the time we gather for the SITES III Kick-off meeting Feb 8‑10 at Asa Station, the incoming SITES Director, Kevin Bishop, will have visited all SITES stations and the Thematic Programs. He is looking forward to kicking-off SITES III this year: 

“Getting to know this infrastructure during my three months of “inskolning” has been an eye-opener to the amazing infrastructure built up during the first decade of SITES existence. Now, with a period of stable funding ahead, SITES can focus on what it is we are here for, providing scientists with access to well documented field sites where they have superb opportunities for doing excellent ecosystem research. I am looking forward to the meeting with many of you in Asa and working together to refine the plans for the coming years of SITES.”

- Kevin Bishop (SITES incoming Director)