Specifications

General instructions

All GlacioBasis personnel arriving at Zackenberg station must have read the ZERO Site

Manual (available from http://www.zackenberg.dk/NR/rdonlyres/8BA15D73-8D58-

4C17-ABDA-99C0067FD571/0/ZERO20Site20Manual2C20ver2027102008.pdf) and

must commit to follow its instructions. This is particularly important with regard to the

restricted mobility in the protected areas around Zackenberg Station.

Safety

Safety is the first priority for all GlacioBasis personnel in the field. All instructions from

the Zackenberg Station manager must be followed strictly. Due care and sound judgment

must be applied at all times, especially upon leaving the immediate surroundings of the

station, when driving snowmobiles,

and on the glacier.

All personnel will need to be confident in the use of firearms for defending themselves

and their colleagues against polar bears and musk oxen, and is requireed to carry a rifle

and ammunition when leaving the station’s surroundings. Firearms, ammunitions and

flare guns are provided by Zackenberg Station. All GEUS personnel is required to have

attended to the GEUS shooting course, the first aid course, the glacier safety course and

the snow safety course. These courses are intended to

enable each participant to

make an informed assessment of the safety conditions at all times. Since VHF radio

communication is not possible from the glacier to Zackenberg Station due to the terrain

morphology, an Iridium phone must be carried during every trip to the glacier. VHF

radios may be useful to locally coordinate work on the glacier.

It is the participant’s responsibility to plan ahead before leaving Denmark and make sure

all the required personal field gear is available and in good working conditions. Personal

safety equipment for GEUS personnel can be procured through GEUS.

Data collection, safeguarding and documentation

GlacioBasis aims at producing a consistent dataset of high quality observation data, and

this requires that documented field procedures are followed strictly and that metadata be

always attached to all data produced in the field. All maintenance work on the automatic

weather stations (AWS) must be documented using the field maintenance checklist in

Appendix A, with special care to recording the serial numbers of the instruments and the

initial readings. Pictures should always be numbered and referenced in the maintenance

checklist. Further details relevant to the specific monitoring tasks are provided in the

following sections.

It is important to safeguard against accidental loss of data by duplicating field notes on a

daily basis and ensuring that one copy remains at the Station while the other (if necessary