BioBasis manual:Conceptual design and sampling procedures of the biological monitoring programme within NuukBasic. Nuuk Ecological Research Operations

The NuukBasic programme was initiated in 2007 by the National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, in cooperation with the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. NuukBasic is funded by the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency as part of the environmental support programme DANCEA – Danish Cooperation for Environment in the Arctic. The present manual describes methods and sampling procedures of the subprogram BioBasis. The manual is updated regularly. The latest version can always be found at www.nuuk-basic.dk.NuukBasic is a climate change effects monitoring programme with the monitoring sites located close to Nuuk in west Greenland. The programme studies the effects of climate variability and change on marine and terrestrial ecosystems. In terms of scientific concept, NuukBasic is equivalent to the investigations carried out in ZackenbergBasic, at Zackenberg Research Station in Northeast Greenland (www.zackenberg.dk).The terrestrial monitoring area is located at the inner parts of Kobbefjord approximately 20 km east of Nuuk as seen in figure 1 and 2. The local climate is low arctic with a mean annual temperature of - 0.1°C (2008-2017). The warmest month is July (average 10.6°C) while the average temperature in March is - 8.2°C (coldest month). The annual mean precipitation in Kobbefjord is around 800 mm and maximum snow depths vary strongly between 0.3 and 1.3 m at the climate station. The drainage basin is located in an alpine landscape with mountains rising up to 1400 meter above sea level and with glacier coverage of approximately 2km2. Geologically, the area is relatively homogenous with precambrium gneisses as basement throughout the drainage basin. For a presentation of the Kobbefjord geology please refer to the note on “Kobbefjord geology” by Thebaud and Lebrun which can be found in the cabin in Kobbefjord.