Author Archives: Mandy Kong

The ISOSCAN approach is quite unique: collecting snow samples from all over Scandinavia with the help of citizen scientists to help improve forecasts of water moving through the landscape. We thought the experience is worth sharing with a wide audience – and so we made a movie! Together with the experienced team from Meyer Film, we’ve been filming in our offices in Bergen, in Tromsø, and in Finse in southern Norway, involving both members of the ISOSCAN team, citizen scientists, and the beautiful natural scenery of Norway. It was quite a unique experience to be part of making such a short documentary, also at times demanding, but highly rewarding. After intense final polishing, the movie is now ready for the premiere! The first public screening is planned for 24 August at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Science in Bergen.

Text and photos: Harald Sodemann/UiB

Within ISOSCAN, we’re aiming for collecting snow samples over a large part of Scandinavia with the help of citizen scientists. Importantly, we don’t tell participants where to collect samples, they are free to choose a location. With the ISOSCAN dashboard, you can now see where your sample was collected in relation to those from other ISOSCAN’ers. Is your sample from a ‘hot spot’, or quite far from the next nearby sample? The ISOSCAN dashboard also helps to plan new samples, maybe to fill an empty spot on the map, or to repeat a sample collected in previous years. We hope you enjoy the ISOSCAN dashboard!

Text: Harald Sodemann/UiB

The overall aim of the ISOSCAN project is to generate a large amount of water isotope data using both conventional and novel approaches, such as citizen science. To this end, the project is developing a scalable citizen science framework involving recreational nature users (both locals and visitors) as well as tourism, leisure and other stakeholders. This work has involved not only the entire project team, but also hundreds of citizens, primarily in the Tromsø area of Norway, as well as in other parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

After two years of working on the project, ISOSCAN had produced a great deal of knowledge through an iterative co-design process involving various groups of stakeholders. In February and March 2026, we presented our findings at three major conferences, which were attended by researchers and practitioners from various relevant fields, including citizen science, Arctic observations, and other industries and fields in the Arctic region.

Ann Eileen Lennert presenting at Arctic Frontiers in Tromsø, Norway

First, in early February, Ann Eileen Lennert (UiT) represented ISOSCAN at the 2026 ARCTIC FRONTIERS conference in Tromsø with a talk on “Scale, Engagement, and Data Quality in Arctic Snow Sampling”. This international event hosts high-level conversations with leading Arctic stakeholders, including scientists, and covers topics from all corners and sectors of the Arctic. Delivered at the session on “Maintaining and Developing Arctic Observing Capabilities”, Continue reading →