Troll Observing Network (TONe)
A new research infrastructure supporting Earth System Science with data and knowledge from Dronning Maud Land
The Troll Observing Network (TONe) is a new Antarctic research infrastructure project which has recently funded by the Norwegian Research Council. TONe will be a comprehensive infrastructure which aims to contribute significantly to observation and data gathering efforts, centred at the Norwegian Antarctic research Station Troll. The main aim of TONe is to provide data and generate knowledge from the Dronning Maud Land (DML) region in eastern Antarctica, one of the most data-poor areas of the continent.
TONe includes eight distinct observatories. Located at Troll TONe includes an Integrated Cloud Observatory (ICO), an Atmosphere Composition Observatory (ACO), an Infrasound Array (IA), an Ionospheric Observatory (IO) and a Seismic Array (SA). TONe also includes a Fimbulisen Ice-shelf Observatory (FIO), a Multi-disciplinary Ocean Moored Observatory (MOMO) and a Seabird Monitoring Observatory (SMO).
FIO and MOMO are particularly relevant for SOOS. FIO will continue and extend the unique long time series - established during IPY (2009) - holding data on mass balance and ocean properties on and beneath the Fimbul Ice-shelf. MOMO will extend and support three multidisciplinary ocean moorings which have been established in the Antarctic Slope Current and Weddell Gyre inflow section over the continental shelf break at 6° East outside the coast of DML.
TONe also includes a drone service (RPAS) open to all at cost-price to be used for various research campaigns. The fixed-wing drones will have data collection capability horizontally and vertically to cover large parts of DML and its coastal waters.
Finally, TONe ensures wide and free access to the observational data from the observatories and drone service to the entire national and international research community to be used to acquire new knowledge of societal importance. TONe metadata will be harvestable for Antarctic Master Directory (AMD) and hence be available to all users also through the AMD interface.
The entire TONe concept is illustrated in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
The TONe infrastructure project is managed by the Norwegian Polar Institute with the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen, the Norwegian Air Research Institute, the seismology research institute NORSAR and the Norwegian Research Centre NORCE, British Antarctic Survey (BAS), University of Leeds and University of Washington as partners.
The TONe infrastructure will be built up over the next 5-year period (2022-2027), and all parts of the infrastructure will be fully operational and available from the second quartal of 2027.
For further information or queries, contact the TONe project management team at the Norwegian Polar Institute at christina.pedersen[at]npolar.no.
