Finse is an established research site that has been used in many studies about snow, land-atmosphere interaction, permafrost, biology/ecology, and more. The department of Geosciences at UiO hosts the Finse research station and has a long history of snow measurements – manual snow depth measurements/transects, GPR or drone measurements (repeated in the same area, the “grid”), satellite remote sensing, and a range of other types of snow-related measurements.
Finse also hosts a meteorological station with a flux tower that provides measurements of many variables elated to land-atmosphere interactions with support from the LATICE research group. In particular the snow datasets have not been fully analysed and exploited. A better understanding of what data there is, and what it can be used for, would help to strengthen the Finse research site and make it more widely used, also by other groups including international networks such as INARCH.
This thesis is developed by the snow research group at the department and is of interest to many researchers. Depending on the angle the student wishes to take, co-supervisors from different snow-related research topics may be added to the thesis.
Research questions for the thesis could include, for example:
- How much do the snow depth patterns in the Finse 1x1 km grid repeat from year to year? Is there consistency or are there trends? Can they be described by topo-climatic predictors?
- How representative are the existing measurement locations for the greater Finse area, and how do they vary across time, including in future climate scenarios?
- Are we measuring in the right places, or should other measurement transects or areas be established? If so, where?
The student can approach these questions with a variety of backgrounds or target research fields in mind, such as snow studies, hydrology, permafrost, ground/snow/atmosphere interactions, glaciology, ecology, statistics/spatial modeling, etc.
Furthermore, the focus and core elements of the theses can be adjusted according to the student's interests, for example, in remote sensing/data processing, spatial statistics/machine learning, or process-based modeling.
Potential Field Work:
The site is strategically important for the MN faculty, and we wish to continue measurements there. It would be desirable for the student to contribute to snow depth measurements (transects, drone flights in the “grid”) during the winters of 2026 and 2027, in the same locations as previously or in new areas that align with the goals of the thesis.