ICOS Switzerland
The ICOS Switzerland network consists of one Atmosphere and two Ecosystem stations: Jungfraujoch, Davos, and Basel. All three have been measuring greenhouse gases for more than 20 years and are unique in terms of geographical location, site history and relevance for national and international research. Switzerland, with its exceptional geographic location in the central part of the Alps, is an outstanding node within the ICOS network.
Jungfraujoch (3,572 m a.s.l.) is the highest, permanently manned research station in Europe, and the highest measurement station in the ICOS network. Continuous in situ measurements of reactive gases started in Jungfraujoch in 1973, and measurements of greenhouse gases were initiated in 2000. Due to its elevation and distance from major greenhouse gas sources and sinks, Jungfraujoch station is mainly exposed to air masses representing pristine conditions, but occasionally also to air pollution, especially when air from lower atmospheric layers reaches the station. The information on the background conditions over Central Europe is of key importance in quantifying emission strengths in more polluted environments.
Davos is the only subalpine Norway spruce forest (1,639 m a.s.l.) within ICOS RI, and it is one of the oldest ecosystem flux sites globally. Its record of CO2 and H2O vapour flux measurements dates back to 1997. This allows detecting the impacts of slow climate change on the carbon sink capacity of this high elevation forest over time. Moreover, detailed functional, e.g. ecophysiological assessments allow to study how the forest responds to the extreme weather events that are predicted to increase in frequency due to climate change.
The urban station in Basel (264 m a.s.l.), which has one of the longest urban CO2 flux records worldwide (in operation since 2004), is a significant addition to the ongoing international and national policy and science initiatives to quantify emissions from urban areas using observation-based methodologies. The long-term dataset of the Basel eddy covariance station provides a wealth of information regarding urban emission changes over time.
The ICOS Switzerland network consists of project members from six Swiss research institutions (ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Sciences and Technology - Empa, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research - WSL, University of Bern, University of Basel, and Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology - MeteoSwiss). It has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, in-house contributions, and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation since 2013 (Phase 1: 2013–2017; Phase 2: 2017–2021, Phase 3: 2021-2025, Phase 4: 2025-2029).
Switzerland Station Network
ICOS Switzerland stations in the map. Hover over the stations for more details.
Contact ICOS Switzerland
ICOS Switzerland Focal Point
Nina Buchmann, Professor
ETH Zürich, Switzerland
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