Zackenberg (or ZERO - Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations), or Zackenberg Research Station, is an ecosystem research station and monitoring facility situated in the

Northeast Greenland National Park Northeast Greenland National Park (, ) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea). Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its p ...

in northeastern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. The station is owned by the Greenland Self-Government and was run by the Danish Arctic Institute (Dansk Polarcenter)
Danish Polar Center
East Greenland until 2008. In 2009 the running of the Station was transferred to th
Dept of Arctic Environment
at th
Danish National Environmental Research Institute

NERI

Geography

Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations is named after the Zackenberg, Zackenberg Mountain and lies in the eastern part of King Christian X Land about 2 km inland on the south coast of Wollaston Foreland peninsula at

Young Sound Young Sound () is a marine channel with a fjord structure in King Christian X Land, East Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone. History The fjord was given the name "Young’s Bay" by William Scoresb ...

in the

Greenland Sea The Greenland Sea ( Danish: ''Grønlandshavet'') is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Gre ...

, roughly northwest of

Ittoqqortoormiit Ittoqqortoormiit (; ), formerly known as Scoresbysund, is a settlement in the Sermersooq municipality in eastern Greenland. Its population was 345 as of 2020, and it has been described as one of the most remote settlements on Earth. The former ...

. About southwest of the station lies the high ''Mount Zackenberg''. Daneborg station is about southeast of Zackenberg. Near the Zackenberg Station is the Zackenberg River, part of a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

with outflow

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s. The Freya Glacier is located on

Clavering Island Clavering Island () is a large island in eastern Greenland off Gael Hamke Bay, to the south of Wollaston Foreland. The Eskimonæs radio and weather station was on this island. It was staffed by Danish scientists and was captured by Wehrmacht, G ...

10km southeast of the Zackenberg Research Station.

Climate

Zackenberg Station is situated in a

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

( ET), with long, cold winters and short, cool summers. Despite its high humidity, precipitation is relatively low.

Facilities

Zackenberg has 10 buildings holding scientific equipment and laboratories, living accommodations and a communication room.
Zackenberg Station The station can host up to 20 persons at the same time with additional 10 persons at the branch facility at Daneborg. Zackenberg Station has normally been open for scientists from June to August but since 2007 the season has been extended from approximately May to October. Research takes place within the framework ZERO (Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations) dealing with issues concerning

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

science.

History

A group of experienced scientists investigated various potential locations for a new research facility in Northeast Greenland in 1991 and concluded that the position near the Zackenberg Elv delta was optimal. The construction of the station was started in 1995 and the station was officially opened in August 1997.

References

External links