Lots of data still has to be collected by hand. For example, I know people who measured the amount of water flowing in streams (on land in northern Alaska/Canada). In small streams, this is done by manually pouring maybe a cup of salt solution in the stream, then measuring electrical conductivity a few tens of meters downstream of there (conductivity is a proxy for salt concentration). It can take several minutes to complete the measurement, and if there's snow in the way, you have to shovel that out first.

Snow shoveling is a good mundane Arctic task; any time you want access to the ground, you have to shovel snow. Solar panels may need to be cleaned periodically too, and in many places they need to be mounted pretty high so they don't get covered in snow in the winter. However, anything that runs year-round north of the Arctic circle will need more than just solar panels + typical battery bank to run through the winter.