Finse Alpine Research Centre

Station name and owner

Finse Alpine Research Centre is owned by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Oslo, Norway. Even though the University of Oslo is the official owner, state funding for building the station was provided on the condition that the Universities of Bergen and Oslo have equal rights to the use of the station for research and education. The station is managed by the Department of Biology, University of Oslo.

Location

The Alpine Research Center is located 1.5 km east of the Finse railway station on the northwestern corner of the Hardangervidda mountain plateau in south central Norway (60°36’ N, 7°30’ E). The closest town is Geilo, about 50 km to the east. Finse lies in the low alpine zone at 1200 meters a.s.l. and about 250 meters above the tree line. The snow-free period is normally between mid-July and October. The station is located just outside Hallingskarvet National Park to the north and east and Skaupsjøen-Hardangerjøkulen landscape protection area to the south and west. The Hardangerjøkulen glacier is 4 km south of the station. Biodiversity and natural environment.

Climate data

Grey colours are WMO Climate Normals including maximum and minimum values. Blue colours are individual years.

Climate data for the stations where extracted via Copernicus Climate Data Store, from the global gridded reanalysis product: ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present. Description and source code: Roemer J.K. 2023. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10214922 Data Source: Hersbach et al. 2023. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS), https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

Biodiversity and natural environment

The area has continuous vascular vegetation up to about 1300 m a.s.l. – mainly oligotrophic mountain heaths. There are rich breeding-grounds for many species of shorebirds, rock ptarmigan, rough legged buzzard, gyrfalcon, and many passerines. The small-rodent community consists of Norwegian lemmings, root/tundra voles, field voles, bank voles, and grey-sided voles. Other mammals include common shrew, Eurasian pygmy shrew, stoat, hare, and reindeer. Arctic fox has been released in a reintroduction program since 2010. There are numerous clearwater lakes with trout and Arctic char.

History and facilities

The station has been in operation since 1972 and consists of a research unit that contains 14 beds, kitchen, labs, and sauna, in addition to a course and conference unit with 44 beds, kitchen, dining hall, lecture room, and sauna. For further information about the facilities see http://www.finse.uio.no/about/research-unit/.

General research and databases

The station has a long history of research in biology, limnology, and geosciences. The station is mainly used for research projects run by Norwegian universities, including Master and PhD projects, but also attracts international visitors. An automatic climatological station has been in operation since 1969 which now also includes UV radiation sensors. The station has historic time-series data on small mammals, and mass balance data is available from the Hardanger Jøkulen glacier. See descriptions of current research projects at www.finse.uio.no/research/projects.

Station Monitoring

• Climate
  • Meteorology
    • Air temperature
    • Air pressure
    • Wind velocity
    • Wind direction
    • Precipitation

Human dimension

The area is much used for recreation including skiing, kite skiing, hiking, cycling, fishing, and hunting. There is a hotel and a hiker’s lodge at Finse, and there are many private cabins in the area.

Access

There are no public roads to the station, but the station is accessible year-round by train (4.5 hours from Oslo and 2.5 hours from Bergen). The research station is located about 1.5 km east of the railway station and transport to the station is available by van or snowmobile except for the snowmelt period which normally includes most of May and June.