FMI started meteorological observations on the island already in 1881. The marine temperature and salinity record at Utö Deep dates back to 1900, being one of the longest in the whole Baltic Sea.
Since 1980, Utö station has been developed with diverse atmospheric and marine observations and collaboration between the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Marine Research Centre of Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) started in 2014, at the same time as the launch of FINMARI research infrastructure.
Today, the measurements include meteorology, atmospheric optics and cloud cover, solar radiation, trace gases, aerosol particles, and greenhouse gases, boundary-layer wind profiles, radioactivity and P deposition, as well as fluxes of CO2 and SO2 in the atmosphere. Parameters measured at and beneath the sea surface include waves, water temperature, salinity, O2, pCO2, nutrients, chlorophyll, and phytoplankton community structure.
Utö station participates in several observing networks like ICOS, HELCOM, EMEP and JERICO RI.
