Plunging waterfalls in Sweden, imperturbable glaciers in Greenland, majestic Norwegian rivers meandering through the landscape, glistering pristine frozen lakes in Finland, and pond-filled watersheds in Denmark - Water is an essential feature of life in the Nordic countries.
The Nordic Big Data Limnology Network (BigLimNet), a network of Early-Career Researchers interested in the physics, chemistry, biology and ecology of these precious inland waters, aims to safeguard these water bodies that are so synonymous with nature in the Nordics.
BigLimNet will approach this aim through deep scientific understanding, strong networking, innovation, and outreach activities. BigLimNet consists of an interdisciplinary and diverse team of Early-Career Researchers. These researchers will regularly meet in virtual and in-person meetings to discuss water quality and water quantity challenges across the Nordics, collaborate on accelerating environmental monitoring throughout the Nordics, and hands-on work on harmonizing and analysing existing observed data time series across the Nordics.
Further, as the envisioned team has unique skill sets, we will develop and offer a graduate student summer school “Observing and Understanding Nordic Inland Water Change” that will introduce students through theoretical lectures and applied hands-on exercise to innovative monitoring methods and state-of-the-art data science in numerical modeling and deep learning. Simultaneously, we will reach out to environmental agencies and companies to initiate a dialogue about Nordic water challenges and co-develop solutions. We will also engage with regional schools to initiate short field trips to educate about inland waters as well as to spark interest in their beauty and their vulnerability.
Finally, BigLimNet aims to become a permanent exchange forum for scientists across the Nordics by collaborating on joint data products, research proposals and future networking opportunities. By building BigLimNet we are aiming to contribute to the understanding of environmental mechanisms in Nordic inland waters to improve their ecological state and climate adaptation potential, and, ultimately, to contribute to the restoration and protection of Nordic inland waters and safeguarding the ecosystems that they are providing.
