The Abisko Scientific Research Station – ANS - is a unique, long-established, modern and comprehensive infrastructure situated in a wilderness about 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. It has facilities of an international standard that support a range of research from observation and monitoring to high tech experimentation within a range of terrestrial and freshwater environments. This unique European environment is characterised by high variability of topography, geomorphology, geology, climate and biocomplextity represented by a range of landscape types, from lowland coniferous forests to ecosystems adjacent to permanent snow and ice on mountain tops.