Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring (GEM) is an integrated monitoring and long-term research programme on ecosystems and climate change effects and feedbacks in the Arctic. Since 1995 the programme has established a coherent and integrated understanding of the functioning of ecosystems in a highly variable climate, which is based upon a comprehensive, long-term inter-disciplinary data collection carried out by Danish and Greenlandic monitoring and research institutions.
Each year, the GEM sends around 75 scientists into the field to study how ecosystems and climate are changing in Greenland. The programme collects long-term environmental data from three key sites: Zackenberg in Northeast Greenland (since 1995), Kobbefjord near Nuuk in Southwest Greenland (since 2007), and Disko Island in West Greenland (since 2017).
The GEM Database now holds data on more than 2,000 environmental parameters. This data is freely available and widely used by both GEM researchers and external scientists for scientific publications, environmental assessments, policy advice, and more.