Full Proposals for IPY 2007-2008 Activities

Proposed IPY Activity Details

1.0 PROPOSER INFORMATION

(Activity ID No: 50)

1.1 Title of Activity
Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribution to the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP-125)

1.2 Short Form Title of Proposed Activity
TSP

1.3 Activity Leader Details
Jerry Brown
International Permafrost Association
Norway/US

1.4 Lead International Organisation(s) (if applicable)
International Permafrost Association
NULL
NULL
NULL

1.5 Other Countries involved in the activity
Argentina
Australia
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
Germany
Iceland
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Korea
Mongolia
New Zealand
Poland
Pt,RU,SE,CH,UK,US

1.6 Expression of Intent ID #'s brought together in this proposed activity
125,15,140,175,230,253,431, 439,651,718,738,799,836,882,987,1002,1004,182,391,464, 627,65,191,228,316,357,492, 824,24,19,79,247,265,281,341,398,402,409,503,509,517,534,597,684,685,879,106,122,129,190,201, 1025, 1089, 1103, 1129, FP#376

1.7 Location of Field Activities
Bipolar

1.8 Which IPY themes are addressed
1. Current state of the environment
2. Change in the polar regions
4. Exploring new frontiers
5. The polar regions as vantage points
6. The human dimension in polar regions

1.9 What is the main IPY target addressed by this activity
4. Legacy

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2.0 SUMMARY OF THE ACTIVITY

The International Permafrost Association’s (IPA) main contribution to IPY will be the development of a spatially distributed set of observations on past and present status of permafrost temperatures and active layer thicknesses. Emphasis is on permafrost temperatures since there is currently no global database that defines the thermal state of permafrost (TSP) for a specific time period (snapshot). The TSP data set will serve as a baseline for the assessment of the rate of change of permafrost temperatures and permafrost distribution, to validate climate model scenarios, and to support process research in order to improve our understanding of permafrost dynamics. TSP measurements, a field component of the WMO/GCOS Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P), address questions related to climate warming and the attendant environmental and societal issues in the cold regions of Planet Earth (both polar regions and mid-and lower-latitude mountains and plateaus). These observations will serve as a lead element for the development of an International Network of Permafrost Observatories (INPO). Related activities include coastal erosion, belowground carbon in permafrost regions, regional mapping, data management and education. The Permafrost Observatory Project has as its major objectives to:
•Obtain a standardised set of permafrost temperature profiles throughout the permafrost regions of Planet Earth (snapshot); •Produce retrospective and contemporary global data sets of permafrost temperatures, active layer thicknesses and temperatures, and coastal erosion rates;
•Increase the number of GTN-P boreholes, active layer, and coastal erosion sites;
•Develop new estimates of below-ground carbon in permafrost regions;
•Develop and promote educational and other training programs;
•Develop additional approaches for reanalysis of past, present and future permafrost and active layer temperatures;
•Develop research activities at site-specific and regional scales including the formalization of a periglacial monitoring network and regional permafrost mapping;
•Utilise standard protocols and conform to IPY data management policy;
•Report ongoing and new results at international conferences in summer 2008.
The Permafrost Observatory Project (IPY Permafrost Cluster) will consists of two major permafrost subcomponents or “subclusters” that provides the central focus and responds to IPY Themes 1 (Status/Baseline), 2 (Change), and 5 (Vantage point); and two subcomponents consisting of Bipolar outreach and permafrost-related activities:
1. International Network of Permafrost Observatories (INPO) builds on several existing and developing IPA programmes and projects: GTN-P (both TSP-125 and Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM-439) components), Permafrost and Climate in Europe (PACE-175); and Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD), links to other closely related projects including ACCO-Net (182), CoCRA (391), Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions (CAPP) as the IPA contribution to Permafrost and Carbon Emissions (PEACE: 882), the developing periglacial network, and several mapping projects (Nordic region, Central Asia).
2. Antarctic Permafrost, Permafrost and Soils (ANTPAS-627) project is developed with the SCAR Expert Group on Permafrost and Periglacial Environments, and including ANTPAGE (357). ANTPAS project is submitted separately to the JC in coordination with SCAR and appropriate national Antarctic programmes.
3. Bipolar outreach subcomponent including the existing IPA data, education and communication activities and developing new international university courses and training on permafrost with links to many other complementary IPY projects.
4. Permafrost-related subcomponent includes EoIs that have permafrost-related activities and are directly related to 1-3.
The main Field Campaign is planned for the 12-18 month period during 2007-08, but starting in 2006 with the inspection of potential remote boreholes. The updated GTN-P catalogue of boreholes consists of more than 600 candidate boreholes throughout the permafrost regions (the majority of potential sites are in Russia), 125 sites in the CALM network, and some 25 coastal (ACD) key sites. A Project Steering Committee is under development. Data will be incorporated into the GTN-P and archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Boulder, Colorado. Education and training activities are to be coordinated and developed through the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). IPA/IPY activities will be incorporated into the IUGS International Year of Planet Earth. During summer 2008 our results will be presented at the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost in Fairbanks, Alaska, and at the 33rd International Geological Congress in Oslo.

2.1 What is the evidence of inter-disciplinarity in this activity?
Permafrost by its very nature involves both multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approaches to understand and predict the energy exchanges at the Earth’s frozen surfaces. These in turn affect the TSP and overlying active layer and vegetation and involve observations on the dynamics of snow and plant covers, thermal and physical properties of the soils, sediment, and bedrock, hydrological processes, and their spatial distributions and variations. Projects such as ITEX (122), Greening of the Arctic (569), Back to the Future (512), and Cryosphere Status (607) are but a few examples of the inter-disciplinary linkages that are being established with the Permafrost Observatory Project. COMAAR (503) including CEON (Circumpolar Environmental Observatory Networks) and ANTPAS (627) will serve as major Arctic and Antarctic coordination links across the many disciplinary projects.

2.2 What will be the significant advances/developments from this activity? What will be the major deliverables? What are the outputs for your peers?
The data sets, both retrospective compilations and the Campaign-acquired “snapshots”, will be the major deliverable and Legacy of the project. IPA works closely with the National Snow and Ice Data Center and its Frozen Ground Data Center. A final project data product in 2009 will be available via the internet and in all likelihood as separate CD-Rom/DVD products.

The acquired permafrost temperatures and related data sets will provide the baseline against which to assess future changes in permafrost, to validate climate model scenarios, and provide data for reanalysis of past ground temperature (Themes 1, 2, 3). The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) reported accelerated degradation of permafrost, and its impacts on infrastructures, coastal processes, and local communities (Theme 6). These issues are of concern to the Fourth IPCC assessment and the IASC-sponsored ICARP, and the WCRP Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Programme. In addition, TSP results will provide authoritative documentation on existing conditions and changes, and assist in land-use planning decisions.
An overall goal is to establish a permanent International Network of Permafrost Observatories (INPO) that includes both intensive and extensive sites where routine and periodic observations of active layer and permafrost temperatures are recorded either manually or automatically. Wherever possible these sites will coincide with other meteorological and ecological observations (such as GOA-569; ITEX-122), coastal sites (ACCO-Net-182), and hydrological projects such as (Kuparuk-201; Cold Land Processes-392), and be coordinated with COMAAR and CEON.
A final advancement involves our education and outreach plans, which will assist in training a new generation of permafrost scientists and will inform the public of the roles and consequences of changing permafrost in a warming climate.

2.3 Outline the geographical location(s) for the proposed field work (approximate coordinates will be helpful if possible)

2.4 Define the approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities?

2.5 What major logistic support/facilities will be required for this project?
Multi-instrumented platforms
Existing field stations
Helicopters
New field station
Fixed wing transport aircraft
Observatories
Snow terrain vehicles
Rock-drilling capability

Further details – Many field sites are located in remote areas that require helicopter access. The Permafrost Observatory Project already includes a network of sites under GTN-P, CALM and ACD that are currently supported by helicopters in Russia. Because the majority of potential new TSP sites are in Russia, the first step is to visit as many potential boreholes as possible in 2006 and to ascertain which boreholes still exist and are available for measurements. In some cases new shallow boreholes (20-30m) may be drilled adjacent to the existing or abandoned drill holes. Annual visits to these sites will be required in 2006, 2007, and 2008. An initial estimate of 150 hours of helicopter time and surface and air transportation are needed annually to access the sites across Russia. Several Canadian sites require access by helicopter and fixed wing aircraft, which will require both Polar Continental Shelf and private support. U.S. Geological Survey sites in Northern Alaska require helicopter support. Other shallow boreholes (20-30m) are proposed in Alaska and other countries. These shallow boreholes require portable drills for “soft sediments”. The shallow prototype drills exist and are helicopter transportable. Several new deep (100m) boreholes are proposed for PolarPACE. Commercial contracts will be required for network enhancement. Wherever possible, boreholes will be co-located at existing and new field stations and we will coordinate sites with COMAAR, CEON, GOA and other closely related field activities. We plan to interface some data loggers for near-real time satellite transmission. We can share multi-instrumented platforms at these “flagship” sites. During the 20th century, over 60 permafrost stations were active in the Former Soviet Union. At least half of the stations now are closed. All stations had multiple boreholes and long-records of permafrost temperatures. Where feasible we plan to re-visit and measure some of these boreholes and soil temperature sites. Most of these stations are accessible by commercial airline service and local ground transportation. For the planned special international permafrost courses transportation by fixed-wing planes and helicopter will be required in Svalbard, Greenland and Canada. Requirements in the Antarctic are provided under ANTPAS.

2.6 How will the required logistics be supplied? Have operators been approached?

2.7 If working in the Arctic regions, has there been contact with local indigenous groups or relevant authorities regarding access?

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3.0 STRUCTURE OF THE ACTIVITY

3.1 Origin of the activity
This is a pulse of activity during 2007-2009 within an existing programme

If part of an existing programme please name the programme – GTN-P (TSP and CALM), ACD, PACE, NSF Arctic SNACS, INTAS, German-Russian Arctic programme, Alaskan and Canadian permafrost monitoring networks, among others.

3.2 How will the activity be organised and managed? Describe the proposed management structure and means for coordinating across the cluster
The International Permafrost Association is identified as the lead for the “Permafrost Cluster-TSP 125” (see follow up JC letter dated June 29, 2005), and IPA is also identified for Arctic Circum-Polar Coastal Observatory (ACCO-Net-182). The IPA is organized under a 6-person Executive Committee, a 24 Country-member Council, a Secretariat located in the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), a Standing Committee for Data, Information and Communication (SCDIC) and 10 Working Groups (see IPA web for details of organization < http://www.geo.uio.no/IPA/ >. We propose to use the relevant IPA infrastructure to manage the IPY activities and to input to the International Year of Planet Earth. The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is providing the first year funding of a four-year grant to the IPA for purposes of facilitating planning and implementation of our permafrost activities in the IPY.

We are developing a formal organization and management structure that will include specific education and data components. We plan to manage the Permafrost Observatory Project by an IPA Steering Committee, chaired by Dr. Jerry Brown, President of the IPA, assisted by the IPA Secretariat at UNIS. Additionally the coordinators of the specific projects and subclusters will be members. The Antarctic activities, a joint endeavour with the SCAR Expert Group on Permafrost and Periglacial Environments, will be “self standing”, but with many common and shared activities and data protocols. Field activities are planned and coordinated by investigators at national regional level.

A team of regional experts representing the countries involved will coordinate the field observatories. For Russia we anticipate a 6-8 person team (see 799 and 431). The education component will be led by the IPA Secretariat at UNIS (Hanne Christiansen) and the data component under the direction of the SCDIC cochair, Roger Barry, at the NSIDC assisted by his staff including Mark Parsons (DIS-409) and Tingjun Zhang (FGDC). GTN-P is maintained by Sharon Smith, cochair of the SCDIC at the Geological Survey of Canada; CALM and its data are managed at the University of Delaware; and ACD at the AWI. The UNIS-based Secretariat will assist with communications. Although Brown is based in the US, and his travel support is presently provided by the US NSF, the Permafrost Observatory Project should formerly be identified as an UNIS-hosted IPA activity (Norway).

Details of the organization and management will be finalized during IPA meetings prior to (CliC), during, and immediately after the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II) in Copenhagen (November 10-13, 2005) when a critical mass of participants will be present. By that time we anticipate information on several pending proposals. We will pursue provisions of the IPA-CliC Memorandum of Understanding as our project and the CliC IPY activities (607) develop.

3.3 Will the activity leave a legacy of infrastructure and if so in what form?
As stated, the Legacy is an International Network of Permafrost Observatories at which long-term data will be obtained and process-oriented research conducted (e.g., PolarPACE and periglacial monitoring). Ideally many of the intensive INPO sites will be part of a more permanent array of observatories under emerging programmes such as CEON, COMAAR, etc). A new generation of IPY students will pursue these observations and research to the next Polar Year (see 3.8 and 3.9).

3.4 Will the activity involve nations other than traditional polar nations? How will this be addressed?
There are initially 22 participating nations in these collective bipolar activities, including countries that are not considered to be traditionally Polar: Switzerland, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and several others. Some Antarctic SCAR members are becoming increasingly involved in the Arctic. IPA is developing regional conferences in Asia and South-Central America, and these may attract additional countries such as Mexico, which has permafrost on several volcanoes. IPA will co-sponsor the first Asian Conference on Permafrost in Lanzhou, China, in August 2006. India traditionally shows interest in such conferences. IPA is encouraging other non-polar countries to join the IPA as official Adhering Members or as Associate Members.

3.5 Will this activity be linked with other IPY core activities? If yes please specify
Yes. We need to first see what the initial list of approved projects is. We will certainly work closely with other projects in both hemispheres such as (CliC-607), with education (Polar Explorer-341; STUDENT–PARTNERS-534), coordination (COMAAR-503) and data (DIS-409) projects. See extensive list of other EoIs (1.6)

3.6 How will the activity manage its data? Is there a viable plan and which data management organisations/structures will be involved?
The IPA data activities have been in place for more than 10 years as part of the Global Geocryological Database (GGD) managed at the NSIDC. Both international metadata and data are contributed to GTN-P, CALM, and ACD and to NSIDC (all four with web accessible data). A separate but compatible data arrangement is being developed for the Antarctic (see ANTPAS). We are developing plans through the IPA SCDIC to conform to IPY data policy. All projects will be asked to sign an IPA agreement specifying availability and schedule for data submission. Data protocols and submission will be closely coordinated with the DIS (409) project, and other related data activities such as under CliC (607). Most of our data is only accessed or collected once or twice a year, followed by pre-processing by individual projects before submission. Therefore, near-real-time data is not a major contribution except where sensors and loggers are interfaced with satellite or internet communications. We plan to submit “snapshot” data at the end of each IPY year and to compile these and other retrospective data into an easily accessible product (and on-line) by mid 2009.

3.7 Data Policy Agreement
Will this activity sign up to the IPY draft Data Policy (see website)
Yes

3.8 How will the activity contribute to developing the next generation of polar scientists, logisticians, etc.?
Permafrost is a highly specialised field of teaching with, at most, only a few courses within the universities of non-Russian countries. To rectify this situation and to provide a greater degree of technical and theoretical coherence in the pedagogical aspects of permafrost, we plan to develop and run a set of International University Courses on Permafrost (IUCP) during IPY. This strategy will create the possibility for formal curricula in permafrost science/engineering, based on collective, international permafrost experience. By definition, IUCP will be international; courses will be offered at different universities in the permafrost regions, administered by international teams of permafrost scientists working at the course sites, and matriculating an international group of students. We anticipate that “distance learning” concepts, using state-of-the-art communications infrastructure, will be utilized intensively; some of the modules can also be used in primary and secondary schools. Existing university courses on permafrost that can be offered internationally during IPY by institutions located in high-latitude regions will be part of IUCP. To improve the use of IUCP, a searchable web-based IUCP database will be coordinated by the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), and will be accessible through our websites. A series of exchanges and field courses involving Russian universities in Tyumen and Moscow are already in place or proposed. Students will be integrated into the permafrost observatory programs. Some emphasis will be placed on developing a holistic set of field skills in students at all levels. Young researchers who are involved in dissertations or have recently completed their education will be involved and, where possible, given major field and data responsibilities. We will cooperate with the University of the Arctic in developing a Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies in Permafrost.

3.9 How will this activity address education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
Existing IPA capabilities will be modified to accommodate expanding IPY opportunities. The current IPA and working groups’ websites provide valuable information for both technical and public audiences, and provide data through CALM, GTN-P and IPA web sites and links (http://www.geo.uio.no/IPA/).

The International University Courses on Permafrost (IUCP) will focus on bringing students to the permafrost regions to do fieldwork using different standard and geophysical methods, including drilling of shallow boreholes, measuring active layer thickness and borehole temperatures, and studying cryostratigraphy and ground-ice landforms. For IUCP occurring outside the polar permafrost areas the access (potentially online for some sites) through IPA websites to permafrost data will be essential. The IUCP will develop plans to arrange a student workshop for presentation of the IUCP permafrost snapshot data in 2008 or 2009, and to prepare a collection of the data to be given to all participants and others for future educational and other use.

Lectures and excursions to field sites for local educational institutions and native people communities will be organized and information and data on climate and permafrost conditions will be presented to local organizations.

3.10 What are the proposed sources of funding for this activity?
National funding will be the main sources. The Russian Academy of Sciences has allocated first-year funds for several IPY permafrost projects. Informal discussions continue for private logistics support in Russia. Proposals requesting funding for IPY have been developed and submitted to the Canadian government. Funding has been received through a northern energy development program for maintenance and enhancement of a permafrost monitoring network in the Mackenzie Corridor, Canada. These commitments can be considered endorsements by National Committees. A major TSP/INPO proposal was submitted in January 2005 to the US NSF and results are pending.

Endorsements by IPA of the IPY activities have been helpful in including projects in national programmes. We look forward to receiving approval to use the IPY logo as endorsement of the Permafrost Observatory Project and its participating activities. We continue to encourage and endorse international permafrost projects such as PolarPACE and INTAS initiatives. The new “Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions (CAPP)” has received funding for a European scoping workshop. Several Antarctic programmes already include permafrost projects (see 627 and 357).

As indicated, the IUGS has approved first-year funding to IPA ($10,000 USD) for a four-year IPY planning and implementation grant totalling $50,000 USD.

3.11 Additional Comments
As stated, details of the project structure and management are evolving and depend in part on other approved activities. We expect to sort out details by November when we meet at CliC and ICARP meetings in Copenhagen. This process will also include the Antarctic subcluster (ANTPAS).

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4.0 CONSORTIUM INFORMATION

4.1 Contact Details

Lead Contact
Dr Jerry Brown
International Permafrost Association
P.O. Box 7, Woods Hole, MA
o2543
USA

Tel:          1 508 457 4982
Mobile:   N/A
Fax:         1 508 457 4982
Email:       jerrybrown@igc.org

Second Contact
Dr Hanne Christiansen
University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS)
P.O. Box156, Longyearbyen
9171
Norway

Tel:          47 79 02 33 00
Mobile:   N/A
Fax:         47 79 02 33 01
Email:      hanne@unis.no

4.2 Other significant consortium members and their affiliation