Climate monitoring station Langtjern

Climate change will have profound effects on lakes and rivers through changes in hydrology, reduced ice cover, warmer water and changes in greenhouse gas production. At Langtjern, a small forested lake catchment in southeast Norway, we are monitoring sensitive parameters to help us understand effects of air pollution and climate on water quality, element transport and carbon cycling. 

Langtjern has a long history of monitoring of air pollution effects, starting in the 1970s. The original trout population became extinct as a result of acid deposition but currently, there is a small but vulnerable trout population. Monitoring of water chemistry in lake inlets and outlet streams is continuing resulting in unique 50-year records, while climate monitoring started in 2010 and has been gradually expanded since. 

We have installed a weather station, a permanent lake buoy and high-frequency sensors for discharge, water temperature and water chemical parameters. We have sensors for dissolved CO2 both in the inlet and outlet of the lake, as well as other chemical parameters (e.g. conductivity and pH), and O2 and temperature sensors along a depth profile below the buoy. All data is transferred daily to a web-based platform.

Click here for more information about the monitoring programme, stations and sensors, and here for a daily update from our webcam.

A fruitful combination of monitoring and research projects has resulted in a large number of scientific papers and reports (see below) that support science-based policy for a clean and healthy environment.

The monitoring programs are supported by funding from Miljødirektoratet and NIVA.

Langtjern is a central research site in the Biogov project at UiO where NIVA is partner. Langtjern is a monitoring station in ICP Waters and ICP Integrated Monitoring, two international programs under the Air Quality Convention.