In the 1930s and 1940s the late Professor Hans W:son Ahlmann studied the climato-logy of glaciers around the North Atlantic Ocean (Ahlmann 1929, 1935a, 1935b, 1942, 1953; Ahlmann and Thorarinsson 1938, 1939). Ahlmann initiated these studies in order to clarify the observation that glaciers were in retreat everywhere in the region. Through expeditions to Greenland, Svalbard, and Iceland, much glaciological knowledge was gained on the mass balance of glaciers. In order to study some of the climatological processes in detail, Ahlmann's student C. C. Wallén started a detailed glaciometeorological program on Kårsaglaciären, northern Sweden, in the early 1940s (Wallén 1949). This became one of the pioneering works on glacier meteorology. Mass balance measurements were also a part of this program. Ahlmann realized that a long continuous series of measurements on a suitable glacier was necessary in order to understand the coupling between climate and mass balance. Hence, he sent out his disciple, V. Schytt, to search for a suitable glacier which resulted in the choice of Storglaciären (Schytt 1947; Ahlmann 1951).

Schytt searched for a glacier which had a simple geometry, was reasonably close to civilisation, and was well documented. Stor-glaciären filled all of these criteria. In 1945, Storglaciären was roughly 60 km from the nearest road, which was considered close in those days. The glacier had been photographed by scientists and local photographers since 1886. The most famous work was done by the Swedish geologist Fredrik Enquist. The best published work from this era is the Swedish Geological Survey volume Die Gletscher Schwedens im Jahre 1908 (Svenonius 1910). Much of this photographic material is of excellent quality and is very valuable to our current research. In hindsight, no better Swedish glacier could have been chosen. The mass balance work on Storglaciären started in 1946 and is still running. We will return to the mass balance measurements below.

During the first years, the scientists stayed in a small Lappish hut owned by the Swedish tourist organisation and located by the Tarfala lake. This was a very simple hut made from wood and insulated by peat and soil. During the years 1947-49, three small linked huts were erected in the location of the modern station, closer to Storglaciären. These huts provided a full 25 m2 of space for living and working quarters. In 1950 the first proper building, the 55 m2 Prisma (named after its prismatic shape), was erected. The transportation of building material to this hut took several years. Part of the work was done in winter by horses and parts by manual labour. This building is still part of the station. The smaller huts were literally blown to pieces by the fierce storms typical in the Tarfala valley. The last hut blew away in the late fifties.

Erik Woxnerud, Valte schytt and an unknown student at the Swedish Turist Association hut in Tarfala.

During this early phase of the research station, many different studies were made. However, the mass balance program of Stor-glaciären was central to the activities. Other notable studies were Schytt's studies of superimposed ice, Ahlmann's studies of ice crystallography, and studies of fluted mo-raines in front of Isfallsglaciären.

In the 1950s Erik Woxnerud was largely responsible for the work at Tarfala. Ahlmann became the Swedish ambassador to Norway and Schytt sailed off to Antarctica as part of the highly successful Norwegian-British-Swedish expedition to Dronning Maud Land 1949-52. Schytt also participated in expeditions to Greenland and Svalbard during this time. Woxnerud upheld the mass balance and velocity measurements on Stor-glaciären.

In the late 1950s Schytt and Professor Gunnar Hoppe started planning an expansion of the station. The station also became an important location for teaching students glaciology and geomorphology, a tradition which is still strong. But, such undertakings required a larger station. In 1960 a large Geography Union congress was held in Stockholm. Parts of the congress was excursions, one to Tarfala. This enabled the donation of a building, Svanö (named after the donating company), through the help of Dr. Carl M:son Mannerfelt. Through significant contributions from the Wallenberg Foundation and the Stockholm University College (what is now Stockholm University). During the winter of 1960-61 building material for four new buildings was transported to Tarfala. By this time the Swedish Army Helicopter School became instrumental in supporting the research efforts at Tarfala. During 1961 the four buildings Forskarhuset (researchers building), Mässen (messroom), Sovhuset (sleeping quarters), and Verkstaden (workshop) were built. On August 20, 1961, the Tarfala Research Station was officially opened as a Stockholm University research station. Many prominent guests were present, internationally best known: Sir Vivian Fuchs, who only a few years earlier had traversed the Antarctic.

In the beginning of the 1960s Gunnar Østrem made thorough studies of ice-cored moraines in the Kebnekaise area and especially in Tarfala. He used a stratigraphic approach, utilizing seismic, photogrammetric, crystallographic, and pit digging methods to conclude how ice cored moraines were formed and how extensive they are at present. He found that the ice cores principally consisted of superimposed ice and not glacier ice.

In 1962 a 60 m long ice-tunnel was driven into the terminus of Isfallsgalciären. This project yielded important information on the formation of flutes. The work also resulted in a PhD study of ice crystallography by Stig Jonsson (1971).

The period 1965-75 was dominated by activities of the International Hydrological Decade. As part of these activities, the flume Rännan was constructed in 1968 to measure the discharge from the Tarfala valley. The flume is a steel construction built in place. The river was redirected into the flume after construction. The flume has been damaged several times by avalanches but is still in operation.

In 1967 and 1970, two Unesco-courses were held at Tarfala and the need for a lecture room became evident. Hence, a new building was erected in Tarfala, Labbet (laboratory and lecture room). These facilities now provide courses with room for lectures and other work but also researchers to make preliminary laboratory work. In 1970 two small identical huts, Tvillingarna (the twins), were given to the station by the county administrative board of Norrbotten. These provided welcome additional sleeping quarters. The station also underwent two major modernisations as electricity and telephone became available at the station in 1971 and 1972, respectively. The telephone was first linked by radio to Kiruna but since 1990 a cable connects Tarfala to the telecommunication network. In only a little over 10 years the station had been transformed from a single building to the station we see today.

What was built during the sixties and seventies now starts to be torn down by the violent storms in Tarfala. In 1975 a food storage and the sauna were destroyed in a storm. The sauna was replaced and Svanö became the new food storage. In November 1986 the laundry house was blown into particles by a storm. This building was not replaced until 1988, and then as an addition to the sauna. In February 1993 the sauna and laundry were totally destroyed in a storm. The Prisma and Mässen buildings were also moved off their foundations and assorted damage was done to other buildings. The winds during this storm reached 76 m/s. In December 1992, 81 m/s was measured at Tarfala, the official Swedish wind record. Repairs of the damages, including the building of a new sauna and laundry house, were made during the summer of 1993. In total 5 buildings have been totally destroyed by wind in Tarfala since the first building was erected in 1947.

Between 1975 and 1979 Doc. Björn Holmgren studied the heat exchange between the ice surface and the atmosphere on Storglaciären. The data sampling was basically carried out from a hut with electric power placed on the centre of the tongue of Storglaciären. The results showed that sensible heat fluxes were more important than direct solar radiation for ablation on Storglaciären during the melt season.

In 1982, Professor Roger LeB. Hooke was invited by Schytt to initiate a study on the coupling between glacier movement and glacier hydrology. The project was to last 14 field seasons to 1995. This project spawned six PhD-thesis (Holmlund 1988; Brugger 1992; Kohler 1992; Jansson 1993; Pohjola 1993; Cutler 1996). Details of the findings from this project will be described below.

In 1985 Professor Valter Schytt passed away during one of the regular spring visits around easter. It was on his last year before retirement. A memorial copper plate is fixed to a giant boulder in the old frontal moraine of Storglaciären in honor of Valter Schytt. The site was chosen because this was the point from where he surveyed the elevation of the small glacier constituting the Kebnekaise summit every year during his 40-year leadership of the Tarfala Research Station.

Professor Wibjörn Karlén was appointed director of Tarfala in 1985. Karlén began working at Tarfala in the late 1950s and later he began research in lichenometry on moraines, and climatic aspects on pro-glacial lake sediments. He made a careful study of forefields of a large number of Swedish glaciers where he could date different moraines and describe their rescession pattern. The sediment coring in pro-glacial lakes gave a much more detailed picture of the climatic variations which have occured during the Holocene than previously was known. During the directorship of Wibjörn Karlén, the climatic aspect on the Tarfala research was pronounced. It was also a period of a significant growth in both research, number of students and interest from media.

In 1995 Tarfala celebrated its 50th anniversary with a large party with participants from all organisations that have contributed and still contributes to Tarfala today.

In 1996 Tarfala became involved in the climate programme of the Institute of Environmental and Space Research in Kiruna (MRI). The climate programme is called Climate Impacts Research Centre (CIRC) and it has its administration at Abisko Natural Science Station. The geo-science part of the programme, which concerns Tarfala Research Station, consists of 7 full time positions on all academic levels. The research programme is based on an earlier implementation plan and all programmes are now running. MRI is a valuable initiative to support science in this region and, in the long term, support the town of Kiruna.

Simultaneously with the engagement in CIRC-MRI, the directorship of the station went over to Per Holmlund.