This year sees a decade of operation for ICOS Sweden’s station Hyltemossa – an observatory providing continuous, high-precision measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in forest ecosystems. It also marks 30 years of data collection at the Norunda site, one of Europe’s longest-running records of ecosystem-atmosphere gas exchange.
Further, it’s been 15 years since the formation of the national ICOS Sweden network – which now contributes stations across all three ICOS domains: Atmosphere, Ecosystem, and Ocean. And not least, it is the 10-year anniversary of the ICOS Carbon Portal, the European data hub for ICOS and a global resource for researchers, hosted by Lund University.
Data for All – Supporting Science and Society
ICOS is an European research infrastructure that spans 16 countries and more than 170 observation stations. ICOS Sweden is part of the European network, and hosted by Lund University. What makes ICOS unique is not just the volume and quality of its data, but the accessibility.
“All data from all ICOS stations is available for FAIR use – freely accessible and easily comparable. Whether you're comparing carbon levels from Norunda in Sweden or Ispra in Italy, the data is harmonised and directly comparable,” says Jutta Holst, coordinator at ICOS Sweden.
This openness has scientific impact. In 2024 alone, data from Swedish ICOS stations contributed to 64 peer-reviewed publications and hosted nearly 90 research projects, involving more than 370 scientists and totalling over 8,300 days of data collection in the field. Data was downloaded more than 56,000 times internationally via the Carbon Portal, underlining its global relevance.
From Forest Floor to Policy Forum
ICOS Sweden’s measurements are not only essential to the scientific community. They feed into major international efforts such as the Global Carbon Project, Copernicus, FLUXNET and even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. Policymakers rely on such high-quality data to track trends in GHG concentrations and evaluate the impact of mitigation measures.
Importantly, the data has challenged long-standing assumptions. Forests, often considered reliable carbon sinks, are showing signs of strain.
“With our measurements we can observe the immediate response of ecosystems to environmental drivers. And what we see, not only in Sweden but across Europe, is that the carbon sink capacity may be less stable than once believed”, says Natascha Kljun, Professor and researcher at Hyltemossa and Norunda.
Looking Forward
The anniversary event is more than a celebration – it’s a call to action and collaboration. Bringing together researchers from across Sweden with stakeholders from agencies like Naturvårdsverket and Skogsstyrelsen, as well as the strategic research areas BECC and MERGE, the one-day workshop will highlight the societal value of long-term GHG monitoring and explore how data can be used in biodiversity and ecosystem service strategies.
Read more and register for the event:
A decade of ICOS Sweden: Measurements to impact in carbon cycle and greenhouse gas science | Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)