HR: 16:20h
AN: U24D-02 [Abstracts]
TI: Permafrost and the International Polar Year
AU: * Brown, J
EM: jerrybrwn@igc.org
AF: International Permafrost Association, P.O. Box 7, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States
AU: Christiansen, H H
EM: Hanne.Christiansen@unis.no
AF: The University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS, P.O. Box 156, Longyearbyen, N-9171, Norway
AU: Bockheim, J
EM: bockheim@wisc.edu
AF: University of Wisconsin, 1525 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1299, United States
AB:
During recent decades warming of permafrost terrains have been observed in boreholes over many continental
regions and mid-latitude mountains, accompanied in some cases by increased thickness of the seasonally
thawed zone, or active layer. In addition to temperature measurements increased availability of remotely-sensed,
time series and in situ measurements of trace gas fluxes are providing information on recent changes to the
diverse, permafrost-dominated landscapes, including changes in eroding coastlines and lake-dominated
terrains. During the International Polar Year, four IPY-approved projects are coordinated by the International
Permafrost Association (IPA) and that are designed to establish the current status of permafrost conditions and
recent changes.
Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribution to the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) will develop a spatially
distributed set of observations on the status of permafrost temperatures, active layer depths and periglacial
landform activity.
Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, Periglacial and Soil Environments Project (ANTPAS) is aimed at
integrating existing and new data on the distribution, thickness, age, history and physical and geochemical
properties of soils and permafrost.
Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions (CAPP) project is aimed at quantifying soil organic matter quantity (stocks)
and its quality in high-latitude and high-altitude regions and that are characterized by both permafrost and non-
permafrost terrains.
Arctic Circum-Polar Coastal Observatory Network (ACCO-Net) plans to develop and coordinate a monitoring
program incorporating diverse coastal regions.
Our collective IPY permafrost legacy is to establish a permanent, bipolar network of observatories and to
encourage the development of the next generation of permafrost researchers. The Permafrost Young Researcher
Network (PYRN), the International University Courses on Permafrost (IUCP), and a centralized data activity are
part of the IPA efforts. Initial results of these IPY activities will be presented in summer 2008 at the Ninth
International Conference on Permafrost, Fairbanks, Alaska
DE: 0475 Permafrost, cryosphere, and high-latitude processes (0702, 0716)
DE: 0525 Data management
DE: 0706 Active layer
DE: 0708 Thermokarst
DE: 0776 Glaciology (1621, 1827, 1863)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting