SIOS infraNOR

The Research Council of Norway (RCN) allocates funding for advanced scientific equipment, large-scale research facilities, scientific databases and collections, and electronic infrastructure through its National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure (INFRASTRUKTUR). In 2016 SIOS-KC coordinated an application to RCN, "SIOS – Infrastructure development of the Norwegian node (SIOS-InfraNor)". The Svalbard component of the Climate-ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra (COAT) was later integrated into SIOS-InfraNor. SIOS-InfraNor is the first major investment in research infrastructure coordinated by SIOS-KC.

SIOS-InfraNor will fund a diverse range of items, from new instruments to remote sensing products. The infrastructure funded through SIOS-InfraNor will be integrated into the observational network of SIOS and will benefit the entire SIOS community. Data resulting from the project will be made available on the SIOS data portal. Some of the infrastructure is already available to researchers via the SIOS Access Programme (see Call 2018). Although the focus of SIOS is on interdisciplinary research, SIOS-InfraNor has been divided into thematic topics for the purposes of project management.