A mobile observatory powered by sun and wind for near real time measurements of atmospheric, glacial, terrestrial, limnic and coastal oceanic conditions in remote off-grid areas.

Climate change is rapidly altering the Arctic environment. Although long-term environmental observations have been made at a few locations in the Arctic, the incomplete coverage from ground stations is a main limitation to observations in these remote areas. Here we present a wind and sun powered multi-purpose mobile observatory (ARC-MO) that enables near real time measurements of air, ice, land, rivers, and marine parameters in remote off-grid areas. Two test units were constructed and placed in Northeast Greenland where they have collected data from cabled and wireless instruments deployed in the environment since late summer 2021. The two units can communicate locally via WiFi (units placed 25 km apart) and transmit near-real time data globally over satellite. Data are streamed live and accessible from (https://gios.org). The cost of one mobile observatory unit is c. 304.000€. These test units demonstrate the possibility for integrative and automated environmental data collection in remote coastal areas and could serve as models for a proposed global observatory system.

Are all melanomas dangerous?

The increased incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma, together with only minor changes in mortality, has brought into question the existence of a melanoma epidemic. The discrepancy between incidence and mortality suggests that most newly diagnosed melanomas have indolent behaviour. This review summarizes the most recent epidemiological findings regarding the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma, mortality, Breslow thickness and clinical stage. Studies published between 2005 and 2010 with more than 2,000 test subjects were included in this review. These studies all report an increase in incidence of melanoma during the last few decades, with by far the highest increase in tumours at a very early stage (T1 or IA). Little or no change was seen in mortality. However, increases in both mortality and incidence of thick melanomas were found in the oldest subgroups, especially in men. These findings indicate the existence of a certain degree of overdiagnosis of melanoma. They also indicate the existence of two different types of epidemic, for younger and older subgroups.