The Atmospheric Sciences unit in collaboration with Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) monitored a number of air pollutants at Aspvreten, a rural site about 80 km SW of Stockholm. The monitoring commenced in 1984. The monitoring is a part of the national environmental monitoring program that is funded and coordinated by Swedish Environmental Protection Agenecy (Naturvårdsverket). From year 2018 the measurements were moved to Norunda. The ICOS Norunda research station (60°05′N, 17°29′E, 46 m asl) is located about 30 km north of Uppsala and some 80 km N of Stockholm.
During the eighties the measurement were focused on acidification. The nineties shifted the focus to photochemical oxidants e.g. ozone. During the last decades measurements also include long-term monitoring of aerosol particles as well as more process oriented studies of role of atmospheric aerosol in biosphere-atmosphere interactions, air quality and climate.
At present the continuous monitoring program includes:
- Particle number size distribution, from 10 to 500 nm.
- Particle mass in two fractions, PM10 and PM2.5
- Particle mass, carbonaceous material, (organic carbon, OC, and elemental carbon, EC)
- Black carbon, soot
- Aerosol light scattering
- Surface ozone (IVL)
All data are reported to EBAS
