Observation tower at Sodankylä

In the far northern reaches of Finnish Lapland, an ambitious new chapter in Earth observation is unfolding. The European Space Agency, together with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and Finnish industrial partners, is advancing plans to develop a state-of-the-art ‘supersite’ in Sodankylä. The plan is to equip this remote site with an array of new advanced environmental measuring technologies, including a striking high-tech airship carrying sensors to perform regional surveys.

The photograph shows the 25-metre-high observation tower at the site. It holds numerous instruments for measuring the carbon dioxide exchange between the atmosphere and the forest ecosystem, monitoring greenhouse gases, and for providing reference measurements for satellite instruments.

Read full story: Putting the ‘super’ into a supersite for Earth observation