Tarfala research station

The Tarfala research station (Swedish: Tarfala forskningstation) is a field station of Stockholm University. The station is situated in the Tarfala Valley in northern Sweden. It specializes in glacial, periglacial and climatological research.

It was here at Storglaciären that the first glacier mass balance program was initiated immediately after World War II. This glaciological program is continued to present day and thus constitutes the longest continuous study of this type in the world. In 1976, the first systematic studies on mountain permafrost in Scandinavia were started using Tarfala research station as main research base. Several years of field measurements proved, that Tarfala research station is located in a zone of widespread discontinuous permafrost. Today, Tarfala research station is a well known research place for studies on glaciers, mountain climate, periglacial geomorphology and alpine vegetation.

The station is situated in the Tarfala Valley in Swedish Lapland at an elevation of 1135 meters, and about 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. The station is ideally located at the foot of Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden. The station is surrounded by several glaciers. The largest are Storglaciären, Isfallsglaciären, Kebnepakteglaciären and Tarfalaglaciären.

Hans Wilhelmsson Ahlmann, a well-known Swedish geographer and glaciologist, was a leading personality with expeditions to Svalbard, Iceland and Greenland already in the 1930s. After World War II, he suggested regular studies also of the glaciers in the Kebnekaise area. Valter Schytt and other glaciologists proposed Storglaciären at Tarfala as ideal location for long-term glacier mass balance studies. Regular glaciological measurements started already in 1946, with a gauging station downstream of Storglaciären.

Valter Schytt remained the leading personality and promoted the development of the research station until his death in 1985. The number of station buildings gradually increased and annual university courses at Tarfala Research Station could start in 1959. Tarfala Research station was officially opened as a research station of Stockholms University in 1961 and expanded by four buildings through a grant from the Wallenberg Foundation. A sauna, a laboratory, a lecture hall and additional living quarters were added in the following years. Winter storm destroyed some buildings in 1975, 1985 and 1993; spring slush avalanches damaged the laboratory hut in 1982 and again in 1991. The damaged buildings were repaired or reconstructed during the following summers.

Research was focused on glaciology, hydrology and climate. The good location inmidst of glaciers and lakes, and the increasingly good infrastructure of the research station attracted scientists from other Swedish universities. The long-term station director Valter Schytt always welcomed scientists and students from abroad, too. In 1985, Valter Schytt died in Tarfala valley during a winter visit. In 1995/96, fifty years of research activities in Tarfala were celebrated and Per Holmlund is appointed as director for Tarfala Research Station.

Systematic climatological measurements at Tarfala station exist since 1961 and are continued till today. ^[when?]

The valley is sometimes hit by katabatic winds, which can generate very high wind speeds. The Swedish record of measured wind speed is from Tarfala research station with 81 m/s (290 km/h) on 20 December 1992.