Svartberget is a center for forest field research in northern Sweden. It provides key infrastructures for field research on mire ecosystems, catchments, and productive pine and spruce stands. The large site gives researchers unique opportunities to study processes and flows on both an ecosystem and a landscape level.
Vindeln experimental forests consists of three research parks: Svartberget and Kulbäcksliden in Vindeln municipality, and Ätnarova in Gällivare municipality. The landowner is the forest company Sveaskog and the total land area of all three experimental forests is approximately 6300 hectares (63 km²).
The centre for research rests at Svartberget where a research station was built in the year 1979, 7 kilometers northwest of the seat of Vindeln. Here, around 15 people are employed: Research technicians, research engineers as well as administrative and seasonal employees.
Svartberget is a part of the Swedish Infrastructure for Ecosystem Science (SITES). SITES is a national organization composed of nine field stations, located all over Sweden, which are equipped with infrastructure and technological competence for ecosystem research.
Svartberget participates in all three thematic programs within SITES: SITES Water, SITES AquaNet and SITES Spectral.
Svartberget is also part of INTERACT, a coalition of almost 100 research stations in the arctic and boreal region seeking to build capacity to do science and environmental monitoring all over the region. INTERACT provides scientists with the opportunity to visit and do research at about half of these stations through its transnational access program.
Svartberget is also a member of Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), a European research infrastructure focusing on surveying and understanding the greenhouse gas balance.
Furthermore, svartberget is part of ACTRIS Sweden. ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds and Trace gases Research Infrastructure) is a research infrastructure for the study and monitoring of atmospheric short-lived climate forcers and pollutants. ACTRIS has strong links to ICOS through the co-location of observational stations.
