NILU’s observatories and monitoring stations
Birkenes
Monitoring and observations at the Birkenes Observatory cover, among others, standards set by EMEP and GAW, and include almost all observations considered relevant by the GAW Scientific Advisory Group for Aerosols as regards the climate effects of aerosols.
Hurdal – a regional background station
In forest east of Hurdal Lake NILU measures tropospheric ozone, particles, carbonaceous compounds, and sulphur- and nitrogen-containing compounds in air, as well as inorganic compounds and heavy metals in the rain on behalf of the Norwegian Environment Agency.
Kårvatn monitoring station
Kårvatn monitoring station is located at Kårvatn Farm at the top of Todalen, on the outskirts of Trollheimen in Møre og Romsdal county. At this location, far away from major sources of pollution, Kårvatn also measures some of Europe’s lowest levels of airborne pollutants.
Prestebakke – regional background station
Prestebakke is a regional background station that measures tropospheric ozone. The location close to Halden and Iddefjorden is particularly well suited for detecting peak ozone episodes caused by long-range transport of air pollution from the continent to south-eastern Norway.
Svanvik monitoring station
Svanvik monitoring station in Pasvik valley in East Finnmark is located approximately 40 km south of Kirkenes and only a few kilometres from the Russian border. The reason NILU does monitoring at Svanvik is the large amounts of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and heavy metals that emits from the smelting plant in the Russian city of Nikel.
Trollhaugen
The most important activities at NILU’s Trollhaugen observatory in Antarctica include characterising the composition of the atmosphere, and measuring seasonal/annual variations in and transport of air pollutants to the region.
UV- og ozone monitoring – Oslo and Kjeller
The instruments that measure UV and ozone can’t be found inside any measuring station. They’re placed out in the open air. For the first 42 years they stood atop the Physics Building at the University of Oslo. Since July 2019 they have been on the roof of the NILU building at Kjeller.
Zeppelin
The observatory’s unique location on Zeppelin Mountain, close to Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard makes it an ideal platform for monitoring changes in global atmosphere and pollution.