Number 25, December 2001

FROZENGROUNDThe News Bulletin of the International Permafrost Association

Frozen Ground

International Permafrost AssociationThe International Permafrost Association, founded in 1983, has as its objectives fostering the dissemination ofknowledge concerning permafrost and promoting cooperation among persons and national or international or-ganizations engaged in scientific investigation and engineering work on permafrost. Membership is through ad-hering national or multinational organizations or as individuals in countries where no Adhering Body exists. TheIPA is governed by its officers and a Council consisting of representatives from 23 Adhering Bodies having inter-ests in some aspect of theoretical, basic and applied frozen ground research, including permafrost, seasonal frost,artificial freezing and periglacial phenomena. Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces organize and coor-dinate research activities and special projects.

The IPA became an Affiliated Organization of the International Union of Geological Sciences in July 1989. TheAssociation’s primary responsibilities are convening International Permafrost Conferences and accomplishingspecial projects such as preparing maps, bibliographies, and glossaries. The first Conference was held in WestLafayette, Indiana, USA, 1963; the second in Yakutsk, Siberia, 1973; the third in Edmonton, Canada, 1978; thefourth in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1983; the fifth in Trondheim, Norway, 1988; the sixth in Beijing, China, 1993; and theseventh in Yellowknife, Canada, 1998. The eighth will be in Zurich, Switzerland in 2003. Field excursions are anintegral part of each Conference, and are organized by the host country.

Executive Committee 1998–2003

PresidentProfessor Hugh M. French, Canada

Vice PresidentsDr. Felix E. Are, RussiaProfessor Wilfried Haeberli, Switzerland

MembersDr. Jerry Brown, U.S.A.Dr. Truls Mølmann, NorwayProfessor Zhu Yuanlin, China

International SecretariatDr. Hanne H. Christiansen, Denmark

Standing CommitteeData, Information and Communication

Working GroupsGlobal Change and PermafrostPeriglacial Processes and EnvironmentsPermafrost EngineeringCryosolsCoastal and Offshore PermafrostSouthern Hemisphere Permafrost and Periglacial Environments

Task ForcesRock Glacier Dynamics and Permafrost CreepMapping and Distribution Modelling of Mountain PermafrostIsotope/Geochemistry of Permafrost

Council MembersArgentina

Austria

Belgium

Canada

China

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Italy

Japan

Kazakhstan

Mongolia

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Russia

Southern Africa

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom

United States of America

1Frozen Ground

Frozen Ground, the News Bulletin of the InternationalPermafrost Association, is currently published annually.

The IPA is a non-governmental association ofnational organizations representing 23 countries orgroups of countries. The success of the bulletindepends upon the willingness of IPA participants tosupply information for publication. News items fromany IPA participant or others are very welcome, as areinteresting photographs. To submit news items orphotos please contact:

The IPA SecretariatDr. Hanne H. Christiansen,Institute of Geography,University of Copenhagen,Oester Voldgade 10,1350 Koebenhavn K,DENMARK

This issue of Frozen Ground was compiled by Hanne H.Christiansen and Jerry Brown.

The IPA Secretariat will move from 1 February 2002 tothe following address:

The IPA Secretariat,Dr. Hanne H. Christiansen,The University Courses on Svalbard, UNIS,P.O. Box 156,9171 Longyearbyen,NORWAYe-mail: hhc@unis.no

FROZEN GROUNDThe News Bulletin of the

International Permafrost AssociationNumber 25, December 2001

Cover: Thermokarst site in the broad Chuluut river valley of the Khangei Mountains, Central Mongolia, located at 48°04' Nand 100°24' E and at 1860 m asl. The site is described in more detail by Prof. N. Sharkuu from the Institute of Geography of theMongolian Academy of Sciences, who has carried out borehole temperature measurements and thermokarst monitoring sincethe late sixties. The valley surface is undergoing very active thermokarsting, thermal erosion, thaw settlement and headwallerosion in the upper 5-10 meters of the ice-rich sediments. The thawing of this ice-rich permafrost may be contributing to riverand groundwater discharges. The grassland around the numerous thermokarst pits and lakes is used by nomads and their lifestock. Typical ger tents are shown behind the thermokarst lake. The Central Mongolian mountains are very dry, with warmsummers and low precipitation. Therefore, the forest is restricted to north-facing slopes. The photograph also shows some par-ticipants on the six-days-field trip led by Prof. Sharkuu following the International Symposium on Land Permafrost in Mon-golia. Both the symposium and this particular site are addressed in more detail in this issue. Photograph by Bernd Etzelmüller,Department of Physical Geography, University of Oslo, Norway, 11 September, 2001.

Executive Committee Report

1st European Permafrost Conference

Third International Conference on Cryopedology

International Symposium on Mountain andArid Land Permafrost and Field Excursions inMongolia

Report of Working Parties

News from Members

Other News

Publications

Forthcoming Meetings

IPA addresses

2

3

6

7

12

21

37

41

41

43

2 Frozen Ground

Executive Committee ReportThe past year has been one of the most active in the his-tory of the International Permafrost Association.Committees, working groups and task forces organ-ized and participated in workshops, symposia, con-ferences and field trips. Several international coopera-tive projects, monitoring programmes and climateassessment activities continued. The Executive Com-mittee and the newly formed International Confer-ence Advisory Committee met in Rome. Highlights ofthe year 2001 activities are summarized below. Detailsare presented in the following pages.

The First European Conference on Permafrost wasconvened in Rome in March with over 120 attende-es from Europe, Russia, North and South America,Japan, China and South Africa. Major emphasis of theconference was on initial results of the Permafrost andClimate Change in Europe (PACE) programme andmountain permafrost. The task forces on PermafrostCreep and Mapping and modelling organised severalsessions. Special issues of Permafrost and PeriglacialProcesses and the Norwegian Journal of Geography pub-lished a series of conference papers. The workinggroups on the Southern Hemisphere and the Coastaland Offshore Permafrost organized special sessions.

The six members of the Executive Committee met inopen session during the Rome conference and re-viewed activities, budgets, plans for the 8th Interna-tional Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) in 2003, andappointed the nominating committee for the nextelection. The International Conference AdvisoryCommittee held its first meeting with members of theorganizing committee of the 8th ICOP. The first circularwas distributed and over 400 abstracts were received.

Several members of Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD)Steering Group attended the Arctic Summit Week inApril in Iqaluit, Canada. Plans for the ACD were pre-sented there to the International Arctic Science Com-mittee (IASC). The IASC approved funding for asecond workshop that was held in Potsdam in Novem-ber.

The Third International Conference on Cryopedo-logy was held in Copenhagen in August and was co-organized by the Cryosol Working Group. Majorthemes of the conference were devoted to soil carbonstocks and fluxes and feedback mechanisms impor-tant in regional and global climate change. The newcircumarctic soils map and soil database were dis-played and demonstrated. During the Conference,Iceland indicated its intention to join IPA.

The first major international meeting of permafrostspecialists took place in Mongolia in September 2001.Approximately 50 attendees from Mongolia and Ar-gentina, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, North America,Norway, and Russia took part in the formal sympo-sium and two days of local field trips. A small groupvisited permafrost regions of northcentral Mongolia.The Asian participants agreed to develop a revised

permafrost map of Central Asia.The Working Group on Periglacial Processes and

Environments organized several sessions and a postconference field trip in association with the Fifth Inter-national Conference on Geomorphology held in Japanin August and September. The Southern HemisphereWorking Group met during the IGC conference. Mem-bers of the Working Group on Permafrost Engineeringmet at several national and international conferencesin Pushchino and Moscow, Russia, and Canada. Mem-bers of several working groups are participating in thepreparation of the infrastructure report for the firstArctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA).

The Standing Committee on Data, Information andCommunications began coordination for productionof the second CD ROM on Circumpolar Active-layerPermafrost System (CAPS). Initial results and sitedocumentation of the Circumpolar Active LayerMonitoring (CALM) programme involving its 15 par-ticipating countries were prepared for publication inan issue of Polar Geography. The cochairs of the Work-ing Group on Global Change and Climate completedwork on the Arctic and Antarctic chapter of the ThirdAsessment Report (TAR) of the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Calendar year 2002 will focus on the preparationsfor the 8th International Conference on Permafrost, in-cluding the review of manuscripts and camera copy ofaccepted papers, preparing for the IPA ExecutiveCommittee and Council meetings, and continuing ac-tivities of working parties. Preparation of the CAPSCD will be continue.

The IPA Secretariat will move to its new location atthe University Course on Svalbard, UNIS, starting inFebruary 2002, but will still be run by Hanne H.Christiansen. The Executive Committee extends itsappreciation to the Institute of Geography, Universityof Copenhagen, Denmark for hosting the Secretariatsince 1999.

The Executive Committee notes, with deep regret,the passing of Arturo Corte, former Argentineanmember of the Council and pioneer in periglacial re-search.

3Frozen Ground

The First European Permafrost Conference took placeon 26-28 March 2001 at the Consiglio Nazionale delleRicerche in Rome and was attended by over 120 scien-tists and engineers from Europe, Russia, North andSouth America, Japan, China and South Africa. Theconference was held under the auspices of the Interna-tional Permafrost Association and received financialsupport from the European Union, the ConsiglioNazionale delle Richerche and the 3rd University ofRome. Themes reflected the wide diversity of perma-frost research in Europe, and the international impor-tance of this research. Major elements in the confer-ence sessions were the potential impacts of globalclimate change on permafrost regions of the world,and the importance of permafrost monitoring in de-tecting climate change within the Global Climate Ob-serving System (GCOS). Charles Harris (Cardiff)chaired the conference organising committee and thelocal organising committee chair was FrancescoDramis (Rome).

Selected papers were presented orally in all confer-ence sessions, but a large number of poster presenta-tions were also included. Time was made available forshort oral presentations introducing the posters, andthis format proved highly effective. Conference Ses-sion 1, concerned with permafrost monitoring, wasintroduced by Margo Burgess (Canada) who dis-cussed the Global Terrestrial Monitoring Network forPermafrost (GTN-P). Daniel Vonder Mühll (Switzer-land) and Ketil Isaksen (Norway) presented resultsfrom the European PACE permafrost borehole net-work. The final two papers were by Jerry Brown whodiscussed progress in the CALM programme, andTingjun Zhang (USA) who reviewed plans for the Glo-bal Geocryological Database (GGD). Fifteen posterpresentations were included in Session 1.

The second session was entitled Permafrost, Active-layer and Climate. Permafrost and active-layer dynam-ics in Siberia were discussed in papers by Peter Kuhry(Finland), V. Y. Ostroumov (Russia), Hanno Mayer(Germany), and S.P. Gorshkov, (Russia). Hanne H.Christiansen (Denmark) described active-layer moni-toring in Greenland, David Gilichinsky (Russia) dis-cussed cryobiological research in permafrost, E.M.Pfeiffer (Germany) described measurements of meth-ane flux in Siberia, and M. Bolter (Germany) reportedon long-term CO2 flux in arctic tundra. Jef Vanden-berge (Netherlands) reviewed Pleistocene permafrostevolution in Europe; L. Eissmann (Germany) de-scribed Pleistocene permafrost structures in centralEurope, and finally Charles Harris (UK) reported onlaboratory modelling of ice-wedge casting mecha-nisms. This session was accompanied by some thirtyposter presentations.

Session 3 was organised by the Task Force on RockGlacier Dynamics and Permafrost Creep. Review pa-pers were presented by Wilfried Haeberli (Switzer-

land: rock glacier dynamics), Vonder Mühll (Switzer-land: thermal conditions), Matsuoka (Japan: rock gla-cier composition), Kääb (Switzerland: rock glacier dy-namics), Springman (Switzerland: rheology andgeotechnical considerations), and Haeberli (overviewand summary). In addition, a total of 35 poster presen-tations were made.

The Task Force on Permafrost Mapping and Distri-bution Modelling of Mountain Permafrost, co-ordinated by Bernd Etzelmüller (Norway) and MartinHoelzle (Switzerland), was responsible for Session 4.Numerical modelling of permafrost distribution wasdiscussed in papers presented by Martin Hoelzle,Stephan Gruber (Switzerland), S.P Malevsky-Malevich (Russia), Catherine Mittaz (Switzerland),L.M. Tanaro (Spain), J.H. Christensen (Denmark), andTingjun Zhang (USA). Other reports included cryo-spheric modelling in Siberia (E.D. Ershov, Russia), theinfluence of snow on ground freezing (A.S. Kashta-nov, Russia), numerical modelling of permafrost inEurope during the last Pleistocene cold stage (G.Delisle, Germany), and the climate impact on glacialthermal regimes (Per Holmlund, Sweden). An addi-tional 14 poster presentations reported on details ofmodelling and mapping of permafrost distribution.

Session 5 was concerned with Hazards, Geotechnicsand Geophysics in Permafrost Regions. Permafrost-related hazards were discussed in papers on the PACEmountain permafrost assessment procedures(Charles Harris, UK), potential impact of permafrostdegradation on urban infrastructure (N. Karstkarel,Russia), permafrost hazards arising from climatechange (O. Anisimov, Russia), pile foundations in per-mafrost (V. Torgashov, Russia), soil cryogenic proc-esses affecting the stability of buildings (V. Karlov,Russia) and finally, the use of freezing indices in de-signing and maintaining buried water pipes in moun-tain permafrost (Felix Keller, Switzerland).

Part 2 of this session included papers on Site Investi-gation. Four presentations discussed geophysical ap-plications. Reports by D.M. Shesternyov (Russia) de-scribed the use of microwave radiometry, ChristianHauck (Switzerland) discussed electromagneticmethods, Daniel Vonder Mühll (Switzerland) re-ported on new radiometric thermal measurements,and O.F. Nielsen (Denmark) described the use ofground penetrating radar in detecting permafrost.A.E. Sundström (Norway) presented results on ther-mal modelling of a tailing deposit in Svalbard, andDaniel Vonder Mühll described new boreholes drilledin the Murtèl-Corvatsch rock glacier in Switzerland.The influence of permafrost on slope instability formedthe final part of Session 5, with papers by CharlesHarris and Michael Davies (both UK) on centrifugemodelling of slope process, the former discussing soilslopes and the latter rock slopes. The final contribu-tion by Y.V. Mudrov (Russia) reported on natural per-

1st European Permafrost Conference

4 Frozen Ground

mafrost slopes in the Russian arctic. Twenty posterpresentations were included in Session 5.

Session 6, on Antarctica, was convened by MauroGuglielmin (Italy) and included a total of nine oralpresentations. David Gilichinsky (Russia) discussedthe age of Antarctic permafrost; Hugh French(Canada) described frost mounds in Northern Victo-ria Land; G. Viera (Portugal) discussed geomor-phological dynamics in the South Shetlands; ToniLewkowicz (Canada) reported on the thermal regimeof tors in Ellesmere Island, Canada and Victoria Land,East Antarctica; and Kevin Hall (Canada) describedthermal monitoring in relation to rock weathering.These were followed by a series of papers concernedwith Antarctic permafrost monitoring by M.R. Balks(New Zealand), T. Sone (Japan), Miguel Ramos(Spain), and Mauro Guglielmin (Italy). Five posterpresentations accompanied the Antarctica Session.

The final session of the Conference, Session 7, wason Coastal and Marine Permafrost. The German-Rus-sian collaborative programme on the Laptev Sea coor-dinated by Hans Hubberten (Germany) made a majorcontribution, with papers presented by G. Delisle (Ger-many), N. Kaul (Germany) and V. Rachold describingsubsea permafrost, temperature measurements, andcoastal erosion, respectively. In addition, A.V. Brouch-kov (Russia) described frozen saline soils, V.Y. Ostrou-mov discussed drainage of super-permafrost waters;Felix Are (Russia) reported on arctic shore faces;Michelle Allard (Canada) described permafrost inemergent marine sediments; and I.A. Komarov dis-cussed the role of salt transport in sub-aquatic perma-frost. Accompanying Session 7 were three poster pres-entations.

Copies of the conference abstract volume are avail-able from Charles Harris (Cardiff University, EarthSciences). A special volume of the journal Permafrostand Periglacial Processes was published for the confer-ence (Volume 12, no. 1, 2001) and contains twelve pa-pers reporting preliminary results of the EU PACEprogramme. Contact Charles Harris for informationon reprints etc. A special volume of the Norwegian Jour-nal of Geography, edited by Bernd Etzelmüller and Mar-tin Hoelzle contains papers from Session 4.

Charles Harris (sglch@cardiff.ac.uk)

Post-Conference field excursionA two-day Post-Conference field excursion illustrateda geomorphological transect through the Appenninesin Italy. The excursion took place from 28 - 30 March,and was led by F. Dramis, who has lived and workedin the area over the past many years. Several otherguides, who presented individual sites, assisted Prof.Dramis. The excursion was joined by more than 25participants from different countries, who enjoyed the

presentation of the geomorphology of the central Ital-ian mountains in combination with the excellent Ital-ian cuisine.

We travelled by bus from Rome when the confer-ence closed, and visited on the first day an active tec-tonic site in the area of the town Colfiorito, where anearthquake in 1999 heavily damaged the town andkilled several people. Travertine deposits in theCamerino area were demonstrated along river expo-sures, and their formation as controlled partially byground temperature variations was explained. Theday ended with some visits to the stratified slopewaste deposits of Middle to Upper Pleistocene age,which is widespread in this part of Italy. Finally, wereached the town of Ancona on the east coast of Italy.

On the second day we visited the huge Anconalandslide (1982), which was triggered by deep-seatedgravitational slope deformation. We saw the charac-teristic landslide morphology with trenches, scarps,steps and reverse slopes together with evidence of de-struction of buildings. Our journey continuedthrough the typical badlands of the Adriatic side ofcentral Italy, and we visited another landslide in thevillage of Montelparo. Here one part of the town isbeing moved as a whole away from the other part bylarge-scale translational sliding. Before reachingRome again, we were introduced to the area aroundMt. Ascensione, where badlands, slope deposits andpediments were discussed.

Hanne H. Christiansen (hhc@geogr.ku.dk)

Executive Committee Meeting 2001All six members of the Executive Committee met inthe Hotel Laurentia, Rome, Italy, March 25, 2001, im-mediately prior to the 1st European Permafrost Con-ference. An informal meeting in the morning was fol-lowed by an open meeting of the Excecutive Commit-tee in the afternoon. Dr H. H. Christiansen, the IPASecretariat, was present throughout. On occasionsduring the afternoon session, there were in excess of

Participants in the Post-Conference field excursion standing on a slid-ing plane in the village of Montelparo.Photo by Hanne H. Christiansen, 30 March, 2001.

5Frozen Ground

20 observers. The agenda included review of the IPAbudget for 2001, the review and allocation of $3,000 toIPA activities (i.e. Working Parties), and a review ofthe production schedule and projected costs of thenext issue of Frozen Ground (2001). The IPA Secre-tariat was congratulated upon the quality and effi-cient production of the past issues of Frozen Ground.It was noted that the current annual revenue of the IPAis derived solely from contributions paid by AdheringMembers. Revenues totaled about $14,000 (US) in2001. The majority of funds are allocated to the pro-duction of Frozen Ground ($4,000); the support of theIPA Secretariat ($4,000), and the travel and other ex-penses associated with the EC meeting in Rome($3,000). It was noted that several Adhering Bodieswere delinquent in their payment of dues. Discussionalso centered around the possibility of increasing theannual contributions so as to permit additional initia-tives. Funding is also allocated to a travel grant re-serve being built-up to assist with the 8th ICOP in Zu-rich, Switzerland in 2003.

Status reports of the organization of the 8th ICOP byW. Haeberli (Swiss Organizing Committee Member,speaking on behalf of the Chair of the Swiss Organiz-ing Committee for the 8th ICOP, Sarah Springman ) andthe activities of the IPA International ConferenceAdvisory Committee by K. Flaate (Chair) were pre-sented. Discussion included the procedures to beadopted for the submission and review of abstractsand papers, registration fees, and Chinese and Rus-sian participation.

In accordance with the IPA constitution, a Nomina-tions Committee was appointed consisting of JL.Sollid (Norway, Chair), F. Are (Russia), and R. Tart(USA). It was asked to submit recommendations forthe next IPA Executive Committee by June 2002, in or-der that they be circulated to all Adhering Membersand then voted upon at the Council meeting in Zurichin 2003. There was an extensive discussion about thenature of the next election, and the desirability or notof having multiple candidates for the six positions.

There was discussion as to the possible venue forthe proposed 9th ICOP in 2008. Both China and theUSA have expressed interest. The President requestedthat formal invitations should be submitted in writingand these would be considered, and voted upon, at the2003 Council meeting.

Hugh M. French (hfrench@science.uottawa.ca)

6 Frozen Ground

The Third International Conference on Cryopedologyentitled Dynamics and Challenges of Cryosols washeld at the Institute of Geography, University of Co-penhagen, August 20-24, 2001. The conference wasorganised by the Cryosols Working Group of the In-ternational Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) and the Inter-national Permafrost Association in cooperation withthe Institute of Geography at the Geocenter Copenha-gen.

The focus of the scientific programme was to em-phasize the importance of different natural sciences inorder to understand the complex climate-landscapeinteractions in arctic areas, feedback mechanisms im-portant for changes in regional and global climate,and other aspects of global change. Soil processes inmany cases play a key role within integrated terres-trial arctic systems. The conference addressed keyproblems concerning soils, soil ecology, active layer-permafrost processes of polar regions and responsesof arctic terrestrial landscapes to global change. Ap-proximately 45 oral presentations and 35 posters weregiven in the following topical sessions.- Northern Circumpolar Soil Database.- Active layer dynamics and Cryosols.- Soil Ecology of Cryosols- Carbon storage and carbon cycling in Cryosols.- Cryogenic processes, hydrogeochemical cycling and

pedogenesis in Cryosols.- Responses of Cryosols to anthropogenic impact.-Environmental change - Palaeoenvironments and

Cryosols.Selected papers will be published in a special issue ofthe Danish Journal of Geography.

An afternoon session was hosted at the Danish Po-lar Center. Several Danish arctic research institutionsand their programmes and facilities in Greenlandwere presented to the conference participants, to-gether with presentations of the international organi-zations and their activities hosted in Copenhagen,such as the IPA International Secretariat. Short semi-nars on terrestrial Arctic Systems and Global Changewere organised during the last day of the conference.These seminars focused on the main challenges, theo-ries and methodologies for: (1) understanding carbon

fluxes in Arctic Systems; (2) the main challenges forthe polar soil scientific community to support the es-tablishment of and the access to soil data of high qual-ity; (3) and on monitoring of permafrost and Cryosolsas part of a monitoring programme for the polar ter-restrial systems.

A joint meeting of the IPA and IUSS Cryosols Work-ing Groups prepared the following conference resolu-tion: The Third International Conference onCryopedology was held in Copenhagen, Denmark onAugust 20–24, 2001. As a result of the four seminarsheld on the last day of this conference, the followingresolutions and recommendations were made.1. In order to better understand carbon fluxes in arctic

soils, soil scientists should be involved in (a) pro-viding data for detailed site selection and descrip-tions for plot and regional scale flux measurementsto ensure that flux data is collected on representa-tive soils, and (b) spatially displaying the carbonfluxes on a circumpolar map, and ensuring that soildata is available through a central database;

2. Develop a homepage for Cryopedology to ensurethat activities and expertise are made known toother disciplines, and continue to organise interna-tional conferences on Cryopedology;

3. Provide information on soil organic matter content,soil organic matter quality (chemical fractions), andsoil water content for scientists involved with car-bon flux measurements;

4. Develop methodologies for scaling up carbon fluxdata collected from plots;

5. Develop interpretative maps such as active layerthickness, soil texture, levels of pollution and soilbehaviour under various usages;

6. Develop a circumpolar carbon stock map for per-mafrost-dominated soils;

7. Carry out monitoring for special purposes (e.g.,coastal erosion, pollution, soil carbon) to supple-ment and compliment other ongoing circumpolarmonitoring projects (e.g. CALM and ITEX);

8.Employ an ecosystem approach for future monitor-ing. Soils should be part of this monitoring andproper soil and site descriptions and analytical datashould be given; and

9. Employ the soil pro-tocol developed forITEX and CALM forsoil descriptions.

Bjarne H. Jakobsen(bhj@geogr.ku.dk)

Third International Cryopedology Conference

Participants in the Cryosolsconference at the Danish PolarCenter 22 August, 2001.Photo: Hanne H. Christiansen.

7Frozen Ground

Introduction

The first major international meeting of permafrostspecialists took place in Mongolia occurred duringthe period 2-12 September 2001. Approximately 50permafrost specialists from Mongolia and eight othercountries (Argentina, Canada, China, Japan, Kazakh-stan, Norway, Russia and United States) took part inthree days of formal sessions and two days of local fieldtrips. A small group participated in a six-day, post-sym-posium excursion to the mountainous regions of northcentral and central Mongolia to examine regional per-mafrost distribution and characteristics.

The symposium and field trips were organised bythe Institute of Geography of the Mongolian Academyof Sciences (MAS) and the International PermafrostAssociation (IPA). In addition to local sponsors, the In-ternational Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the Uni-versity of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, through its coop-erative agreement with the U.S. National ScienceFoundation, provided financial support for a numberof foreign participants. The concept of the meetingwas first discussed in 1998 at the 7th International Con-ference on Permafrost in Yellowknife, Canada,(French 1998) with N. Sharkhuu of the MAS Instituteof Geography. Although the permafrost regions ofMongolia were known from the Russian, Polish andMongolian literature (Sharkhuu 1993: Gravis et al),few foreign geocryologists had actual first handknowledge, including those from neighboring Chinaand Kazakhstan. The IPA facilitated the organizationof the meetings in order to assist in its current activitiesas represented by participating members of several ofits committees and working parties: Executive Com-

mittee: Jerry Brown; Standing Committee on Data, In-formation and Communication: Tingjun Zhang; TaskForce on Mapping and Modelling of Mountain Per-mafrost: Bernd Etzelmuller, Sergei Marchenko, DarioTrombotto and Stuart Harris; Working Group on Per-mafrost and Climate Change: Fritz E. Nelson andNikolai Shiklamonov.

Symposium

The formal paper and informal poster sessions werebased on 35 abstracts submitted prior to the meetingsand published in a 95-page extended abstract volume.N. Batnasan, science secretary of the Institute of Geo-graphy, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, and a hy-drologist assisted N. Sharkhuu to organise the pro-gramme and publication. Major topics presented anddiscussed included:

Mountain permafrost distribution, mapping andmodelling in Argentina, Canada, China, Kazakhstan,Mongolia, the Nordic and European countries, andRussia.Monitoring of active layer and boreholes as part ofthe Global Terrestrial Network-Permafrost (GTN-P) and the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring(CALM) programme.Observations of hydrologic responses from cli-mate, glaciers and ground ice, and effects on lakelevels and river discharges.Proposed pipeline construction across Mongolia.Continuing plans for the Global GeocryologicalDatabase (GGD) and preparation of its second CD-

International Symposium on Mountain and Arid Land Permafrost and FieldExcursions in Mongolia

1

2

3

45

Symposium participants at the, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbatar, Mongolia. Photo: Bernd Etzelmüller

8 Frozen Ground

ROM for presentation at the 8th International Con-ference on Permafrost.

A series of roundtable discussions resulted in five recom-mendations that were approved in the closing session:1. Improved knowledge of the occurrence and

changes of permafrost in mountains due to naturaland human-induced changes require standardmapping and classification across nationalboundaries. Further, an international team of ex-perts is required to prepare a uniform map of Cen-tral Asia permafrost (China, Kazakhstan, Mongo-lia, and Russia).

2. Modelling of permafrost distribution in representa-tive areas of mountain regions is required at differ-ent scales.

3. Construction, land use, local and Pan Arctic waterbalance prospects should take into account long-term changes in active layer and permafrost undernatural and disturbed conditions.

4. International long-term observational networks ofsoil moisture, thaw and ground temperature, andperiglacial features in the mountains should be es-tablished and maintained as part of the WMO/FAO GTN-P programme; for example in the AltaiMountains.

5. Mapping, modelling, and monitoring strategies inmountain regions should be designed for testingand verification of climate change scenarios.

The first recommendation supports the need to fur-

ther refine the IPA permafrost and ground ice map ofthe Northern Hemisphere (Brown et al, 1997). The pri-ority is to develop a common permafrost classificationfor the Asian mountains and plateaus so that a re-gional permafrost map including southern Russia,Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan and adjacent coun-tries can be prepared. Representatives of each of thefour countries agreed to develop this activity and toprepare a paper or report in time for the 8thICOP.Kazakhstan and Mongolia are concluding a three-year cooperative project on their common permafrostproblems.

The other recommendations represent next stepsfor the IPA and to improve modelling, mapping,monitoring techniques and management of data, andto apply them to questions of human-induced andnatural changes. The modelling approach requiresavailability of digital elevation data from which en-ergy balance calculations in conjunction with otherparameters are used to estimate the occurrence or ab-sence of permafrost on slopes of differing aspects andelevations (Hoelzle et al., 2001; Etzelmüller, et al,2001). Several areas in Mongolia and Kazakhstan haveadequate borehole data for use in calibrating or vali-dating the models at differing resolutions. At presentthere are some 20 CALM monitoring sites in the highelevations of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China thatare observing active layer thickness and temperature.

Distribution of permafrost and seasonally frozen ground in Mongolia and route of 6-day field trip. Symbol and lines: 1. Continuous and discon-tinuous permafrost zones (50-100%); 2. Isolated permafrost zone (1-50%); 3. Sporadic permafrost areas (0-1%); 4. Seasonal frost zone; 5. Routeof air travel; 6. Route by ground vehicles. Numbers on map: 1.Ulaanbaatar; 2. Muren; 3. Burenkhan; 4. Khatgal (Lake Hövsgöl); 5. Ardag; 6.Sharga; 7.Tes; 8. Tosontsengel; 9. Terkh; 10. Tariat; 11. Chuluut; 12. Tsetserleg; 13. Kharkhorum.

9Frozen Ground

Permafrost distribution and climate

Based on results of the joint Russian-Mongolia expe-ditions of the late 1960s and more recent maps andpublications by Sharkhuu (1998) and others, it isknown that permafrost conditions underlie almosttwo thirds of Mongolia (976,500 km2), predominantlyin the Khentei, Hövsgöl, Khangai, and Altai moun-tains and surrounding areas. The territory is charac-terized by mountain and arid-land permafrost as anextension of the southern fringe of the Siberia perma-frost zones. Most of this region forms the SelengeRiver basin, which drains into Lake Baikal to thenorth. Annual precipitation averages about 200 mm.The extent of permafrost ranges from areas where amajority of the land surface is underlain by perma-frost (>50%; continuous and discontinuous) to areasonly sparsely occupied by permafrost (<50%; isolatedand sporadic). The lower limit of continuous perma-frost (>85%) on south facing slopes ranges from 1400to 2000 m asl. in the Hövsgöl and Khentei mountains,and between 2200 and 3200 m asl. in the Altai andKhangai mountains. The lowest limit of sporadic per-mafrost is found at 600 to 700 m asl.

In the continuous and discontinuous permafrost ar-eas, taliks (permafrost free areas) are found only onsteep south-facing slopes, under large river channelsand deep lake bottoms, and along tectonic fractureswith hydrothermal activity. In isolated permafrostareas, frozen ground is found only on north-facingslopes and in fine-grained and moist deposits. Aver-age thickness and temperature of continuous perma-frost is 50-100 m and -1 to -2°C in valleys and depres-sions, and 100-250 m and -1 to -3°C in mountains, re-spectively. Permafrost in Mongolia is characterizedmainly by low and moderate ice contents in uncon-solidated sediments. Ice-rich permafrost is character-istic of lacustrine and alluvial sediments in valleysand depressions.

Thicknesses of the seasonally thawed active layersare 1-3 m in fine-grained soils and 4-6 m in coarse ma-terials or at sites with mean annual ground tempera-ture close to 0°C. There are widespread cryogenic pro-cesses and phenomena in the permafrost regions.Trends of air temperatures for the period 1940 to 1990indicate that mean summer temperatures in theSelenge River Basin have increased by only 0.5°C,whereas winter temperatures have increased by 4.0°C. During the same period, mean annual air tempera-tures have increased by 1.8 °C in western Mongolia,1.4 °C in Central Mongolia and 0.3 °C in southern andeastern Mongolia. Mean summer, winter and annualprecipitation has not changed significantly. Accord-ing to data of the Baruun Kharaa weather station, lo-cated about 120 km northwest of Ulaanbaatar, thetrend of mean annual air temperatures for the periodsof 1940-1999 and 1996-1999 are 0.042 °C and 0.152 °C

per year. The mean annual and summer air tempera-tures during the last five years were at a maximum in1998; and greater than the trend observed during thelast 60 years.

During the last five years, maximum depth of sea-sonal thawing of ground for all boreholes was ob-served in 1998 and minimum depth mostly in 1999.Mean annual ground temperatures in the Selenge Ba-sin have increased at rates of 0.01 to 0.02 ºC per yearand permafrost degradation is occurring in 75% of theareas where permafrost exists. Therefore, if thepresent warming rates continue permafrost withthicknesses of 15-20 m will disappear by the middle ofthe 21st century (Sharkhuu, 1998). This would repre-sent a reduction of permafrost occurrence from 25-35% to 20% of the Selenge Basin. However, permafrostis aggrading under dense forests where moss ispresent. Essentially all remaining areas without per-mafrost in Mongolia are subjected to deep seasonalfreezing. Climate modelling suggests 24-28% ofpresent-day permafrost may disappear by 2040 (seethe Symposium extended abstracts for more details onpermafrost distribution, monitoring, and climate sce-narios).

Field excursions

Both the two-day local and six-day extended fieldtrips offered the participants opportunities to visitsites of known permafrost occurrence and to viewsome of the natural scenery and nomadic cultures ofMongolia. The Khentei Mountains surroundingUlaanbaatar were the focus of the two-day excursions;and the Hövsgöl and Khangai Mountain regions ofnorth central and central Mongolia, respectively, werethe regions visited during the extended excursion.Both trips were well organised and led by N.Sharkhuu who has mapped and monitored perma-frost conditions over the past 35 years (Sharkhuu1993). Sharkhuu illustrated the locations visited witha series of cross sections, borehole profiles, maps andrelated data. These will be incorporated into a guide-book that will be available for general distribution.

During the two-day excursion the group of foreignparticipants visited permafrost sites in several pro-tected areas and national parks in the Khentei Moun-tains where elevations range from 1600 to 2800 m asl. Itwas illustrated how the presence of talus block fieldsor rockfalls on steep mountain slopes (kurums) pro-mote permafrost formation as cold winter air pen-etrates the porous slopes. Other sites included visitsto: a coal mining district in which permafrost degrada-tion had caused damage to buildings in this discon-tinuous permafrost area; an above-ground, cold stor-age facility constructed of ice in the 1940s and which isstill functioning; location of a new oil refining facility

10 Frozen Ground

on permafrost; and a small ice-cored mound (pingo)in a partially drained lake.

The six-day excursion began with a flight fromUlaanbaatar to Muren, the administrative center ofthe Hövsgöl region (aimag). During the ensuing daysthe party of eleven and two drivers (see group photo-graph) covered approximately 1500 km by Russianjeep and a Japanese mini van across a wide range ofmountain trails and unpaved roads; only the last 300km on the way back to Ulaanbaatar was on pavedroad. Overnight stops included two tourist campsconsisting of small houses (gers) used by the pastoralnomadic population. Herding of sheep, goats, cattleand yaks were observed everywhere on the treelessgrassland steppes. Occasional encounters with smallherd of grazing camels offered excellent photo oppor-tunities. Forest covered slopes, predominantly oflarch, covered most north-facing slopes to the treeline.

The first two days in the Hövsgöl Mountain Rangeincluded visits in the Burenkhaan and Ardag moun-tains to observe borehole and mapping sites at whichthe relation of slope, aspect, elevation and vegetativecover were illustrated as controlling the extent andthickness of permafrost. Boreholes located between1600 and 2300 m asl have been monitored over the past40 years, including the period of phosphorite explora-tion in the 1980s. Both areas with their rich phospho-rite deposits and unique natural environments havebeen subsequently protected from future develop-ment. The town of Khatgal (Hatgal) located at thesouthern end of Lake Hövsgöl is underlain by moder-ately ice-rich permafrost. Many buildings sufferedstructural damage as permafrost thawed and settle-ment occurred. This was also the case at the nearbyRussian-Mongolian phosphorite geological basecamp at Ardag Mountain on the lower west side ofLake Hövsgöl.

The 262-m deep Lake Hövsgöl is the deepest lake incentral Asia south of Russia, and is the center of the8381km2 Khubsugul National Park. The Park andLake Hövsgöl are bordered on the north by the RussiaFederation. The recently established site of the World

Bank’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and in-ternational Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) islocated on the east side of the lake (Goulden et al. 2000;Gosz et al., 2000). This LTER project offers an excellentopportunity to develop the mountain mapping andmodelling approaches, to monitor changes in the ac-tive layer and permafrost, and assess how futurechanges in permafrost may affect the biodiversity andbiogeochemistry of this area

On Day 3 boreholes and others sites were visited toexplain permafrost characteristics in lacustrine de-posits, seasonal ice-mound formation, pingos, andthermokarst features in the Sharga and Tes river val-leys surrounding the mountains. The Mungot pingoin the Tes valley was drilled in 1968 and water was en-countered under pressure at 32 m. The initial flow re-sulted in a 70 cm high artesian fountain whose flowwas carefully monitored for 120 hours (Sharkhuu,pers. comm.).

Days 4 and 5 were devoted to crossing uplands andbroad valleys of the Khangai Mountains. The KhangaiRange extends about 800 kilometers from the westernpart of Mongolia to the southeast with elevationsranging upwards from 3000 to 4000 m asl. Valleyfloors are usually above 2000m asl. In the broad TerkhRiver valley stops were made to observe borehole andactive layer monitoring sites. Temperature measure-ments in many of these boreholes were first measuredin the late 1960s and provide evidence for the recentregional warming of the permafrost. Active solifluc-tion lobes are observed on many of the valley slopesvegetated by both steppe and larch forests. A recentlyinstrumented site was visited.

The thermokarst and thermal erosion processesof the Chuluut river valley were the main object ofthe Day 5 (Sharhkuu, 1998). The Chuluut River cuts aspectacular deep canyon across lava flows thatblocked the river in the vicinity of several small volca-noes and formed a large lake. Refreezing of thelacustrine-alluvial deposits resulted in formation ofhigh-ice content permafrost. Horizontal ground icelenses up to 80 cm thick are observed in riverbanksand thermal erosion cuts. The valley surface consistsof gently undulating mound-like features with small-incised drainages. The highest mound visited rises 15meters above this surface, and although it has the fea-tures of a pingo, drill logs reveal it is composed ofsegregation ice; not injection ice. The western down-stream portion of this valley surface is undergoingvery active thaw or thermokarst and thermal erosionas headward erosion and thaw settlement erode theupper 5-10 meters of ice-rich sediments (see coverphoto). Springs are seen emerging in thaw ponds.Rate of thermal erosion, thaw settlement, and groundtemperatures are being monitored by Sharkhuu.

A first impression by Western observers suggeststhat this thermokarst landscape may be an early stage

Participants in six-day field excursion in central Mongolia.Photo: Bernd Etzelmüller.

11Frozen Ground

in the formation of alas valleys as observed in some ar-eas of Yakutia (S. Harris, pers. comm.). This undulat-ing thermokarst topography may represent past epi-sodes of thermokarst development and stabilisation.The cause of the present ‘cycle’ of accelerated thermo-karst development was not immediately obvious; itcould be triggered by either human disturbance ormay be a natural process responding to contemporaryclimate (see Sharhkuu, 1998). These processes and re-lated ground-ice features warrant further investiga-tion as the thawing of this ice-rich permafrost may infact be contributing to river and groundwater dis-charges.

The final day of the excursion was devoted to the460-km drive to Ulaanbaatar across the mountainsteppe zone and a visit enroute to the 13th century capi-tal of Chenggis Khan at Kkarkorum and site of thepresent-day Buddhist monastery at Erdene Zuu.

Conclusions

The symposium and field excursions will leave a long-lasting impression on the international visitors andthe Mongolian participants. The formal and personalcontacts will provide opportunities for new scientificand geotechnical projects and institutional exchanges,increased IPA activities in Asian and other mountainregions, and a better understanding of how the per-mafrost conditions of this vast area of Mongolia is re-sponding to the observed climate changes. For furtherinformation on the availability of the abstract volumeand guidebook contact the Institute of Geography,MAS at (aisav@mongol.net) and (geodgv @ magic-net.mn).

References

Brown, J., O. J. J. Ferrians, J. A. Heginbottom, and E. S.Melnikov. 1997. International Permafrost Associa-tion Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost andGround Ice Conditions. U.S. Geological Survey,1997, scale 1:10,000,000.

Etzelmüller, B, Hoelzle, M., Heggem, E.S.F., Isaksen,K., Mittaz, C., Ødegård, R.S., Haeberli, W., Sollid,J.L. 2001 Mapping and modelling the occurrenceand distribution of mountain permafrost. Norwe-gian Journal of Geography, 55, 4.

French, H. M., 1998. Permafrost advances atYellowknife, Canada: Report of the Seventh Inter-national Conference on Permafrost. Episodes, Vol.21, 4, 257-260.

Gosz, J. R. (ed.), 2000. The International Long TermEcological Research Network, 2000, 28-29.

Goulden, C. E., J. Tsogtbaatar, Chuluunkhuyag, W. C.Hession, D. Tumurbaatar, Ch. Dugarjav, C.

Cianfrani, P. Brusilovskiy, G. Namkhaijantsen, andR. Baatar. 2000. The Mongolian LTER: HövsgölNational Park. Korean J. Ecol., 23, 135-140.

Hoelzle, M., Mittaz, C., Etzelmüller, B., Haeberli, W.2001. Surface energy fluxes and distribution mod-els relating to permafrost in European Mountainareas: an overview of current developments. Per-mafrost and Periglacial Processes, 12, 53-68.

Sharkhuu, N. 1998. Trend of permafrost developmentin the Selenge River basin, Mongolia, in: A. G.Lewkowicz and M. Allard (eds.) Proceedings of theSeventh International Conference on Permafrost,Québec: Centre d’études nordiques, UniversitéLaval, 979-985.

Jerry Brown (jerrybrown@igc.org)

12 Frozen Ground

Report of Working PartiesThe IPA Council at the 1998 7th ICOP in Yellowknifeapproved the formation or continuation of one Stand-ing Committee, six Working Groups (WG) and threeTask Forces (TF); collectively referred to as WorkingParties (WP). Task Forces are intended to be short-term activities resulting in assessments or recommen-dations on specific subjects. Additional details on theguidelines for Working Parties and international liai-son are found in Frozen Ground Number 22.

The following reports cover activities over the past12 months. A number of WP meetings took place in2001 in conjunction with the conferences, symposiaand workshops in Rome, Moscow and Pushchino, Co-penhagen, Tokyo and Mongolia. These meetings pro-vided the venues for formal and informal WP discus-sions on present activities and plans leading up to the8th International Conference on Permafrost in Zurich.Brief status reports of several international pro-grammes are presented and include the Global Terres-trial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P), CALM, PACEand Climate and Cryosphere (CLIC).

Reports are reviewed and edited by Jerry Brown,Member, IPA Executive Committee.

Standing Committee

Data, Information, and Communications

The objectives of the SCDIC are to initiate and imple-ment IPA strategies for data, archiving, informationproduct development, and communication withinand beyond the permafrost community. In addition tothe cochairs Roger Barry (USA) and Mike Clark (UK),members include Julia Branson (UK), Margo Burgess(Canada), Daniel Vonder Muehll (Switzerland),Hanne H. Christiansen (Denmark), representativesfrom China, Russia and several Working Groups, andJerry Brown (USA) as liaison for the Executive Com-mittee and GTN-P.

During the past year SCDIC members have commu-nicated via email although a number of them wereable to meet in Rome during the 1st European Perma-frost Conference to discuss progress on the GTN-Pand preparations of the CAPS CD for the 8th Interna-tional Conference in 2003. The IPA web site was re-vised by Julia Branson and the staff of GeoData Center,University of Southampton. Full text of the FrozenGround 21-24 and current reports of IPA Members andWorking Parties are readily accessible on the web.

To continue the IPA strategy for data and informa-tion management as part of the Global GeocryologicalDatabase, the SCDIC working with the National Snowand Ice Data Center (NSIDC), University of Colorado,and the International Arctic Research Center (IARC),Unversity of Alaska, will revise and update the 1998CAPS CD-ROM and expand the GGD. Tingjun Zhang

and Mark Parsons are leading the work at NSIDC.Provisional plans include development of a newsearch engine with an interactive data access throughthe CD-ROM, an internet web site and FTP. Currentstatus, plans and requirements for the GGD-CAPS IIactivities were presented at the IPA meetings in Rus-sia, Rome, Copenhagen, and Mongolia (see other re-ports of these meetings). Since the 1998 conference,new and continuing IPA projects have developedlarge amounts of information for inclusion in GDD.These include, but are not limited to: (1) the GlobalTerrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) includ-ing CALM, PACE and the borehole network, (2) theArctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) project; (3) theCryosol database and maps; and (4) the results fromthe task forces on permafrost creep and mountain per-mafrost modelling and mapping.

Other candidate data sets and products include: se-lected Chinese permafrost maps and borehole data;time series of Russian soil temperatures from climatestations; data from Russian INTAS projects on groundice and TUNDRA; the Japanese GEWEX AsianMonsoon Experiment (GAME)-Tibet and GAME-Si-beria projects; the Canadian climate cryopshere pro-grammes; the United States Arctic System Science(ARCSS) projects; revisions to the English-Russianpermafrost glossary; an updated bibliography on fro-zen ground; experimental data from the Caen’s ice-segregation bedrock experiment; and a metadatacatalog of frozen ground models. Identification of ad-ditional data and information for CAPS II by all coun-tries, organizations, individuals, and IPA workingparties are requested. A small January 2002 meeting isplanned in Boulder to review the inventory of meta-data and data sets, plan revisions in existing files, andsolicit new data.

While on sabbatical visit in Russia, Cochair Barryattended both the annual Earth Cryology and Councilmeetings in Pushchino and the 2nd Russian Confer-ence on Cryology at Moscow State University. He pre-sented reports in Russian on (1) the role of snow andice in the climate system, (2) the Global Geo-cryological Database (GGD), and (3) the distributionof perennially and seasonally frozen ground in thenorthern hemisphere. Abstracts of these and relatedreports by Barry and Zhang are available in proceed-ings of the meetings reported upon in this issue of Fro-zen Ground. The proceedings of the November 1998NATO-sponsored workshop on Permafrost Responseon Economic Development, Environmental Securityand Natural Resource was published by Kluwer andcontains the reports on the IPA monitoring networks.

Roger Barry (rbarry@kryos.colorado.edu)Jerry Brown (jerrybrown@igc.org)

13Frozen Ground

Working Groups

Global Change and Permafrost

The objectives are to facilitate analysis of changes inpermafrost and its distribution induced by climatechange, and to promote knowledge about the impactof these changes on natural systems and human ac-tivities. F.E. Nelson (USA) and Oleg Anisimov (Rus-sia) co-chair the Working Group. A subgroup coordi-nates the CALM network.

Results from the Third Assessment Review (TAR) ofthe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) were published in mid-2001, after extensivescientific and governmental review. Chapter 16 ‘PolarRegions (Arctic and Antarctic)’ of the volume ‘Im-pacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability,’ prepared byWorking Group II, contains a review of the current sta-tus of permafrost research as it relates to climaticchange, as well as its relation to international monitor-ing and assessment efforts (Ansimov et al., 2001). Theregional focus of the chapter facilitated integration ofpermafrost research into other sections treating re-lated topics, including climate drivers, hydrology,biota, and impacts on human communities. Perma-frost is also discussed in chapters treating other re-gions, and a short section on observed active layer andrecent permafrost thermal trends, written by M. Bur-gess (Canada) and S. Smith (Canada), appeared inChapter 2 of the Working Group I Assessment Report‘The Scientific Basis.’ This section includes a referenceto the GTN-P Programme.

At its final meeting in February 2001, the IPCC TARcompiled and approved the Final Report and the Sum-mary for Policymakers (WGII). Due largely to insist-ence by representatives of the Russian and Canadiangovernments, the IPCC Summary for Policymakers(WGII) contains a statement to the effect that ongoingchanges of climate in the permafrost regions may re-sult in substantial release of greenhouse gases andthat the degradation of permafrost may have adverseimpacts on northern infrastructure.

In July 2001, Anisimov presented an overview of cli-mate change impacts in high-latitude regions of thenorthern hemisphere at the plenary session of thewell-publicized IGBP Open Science Meeting in Am-sterdam. One of the key points adopted in Amsterdamwas that permafrost and arctic tundra play an impor-tant role in the atmospheric carbon balance, and thatefforts should be made to predict releases of green-house gases in the Arctic.

As a regional analysis of the IPCC process the ArcticClimate Impact Assessment (ACIA) covers severaltopics of interest to the IPA. Chapter 5 on theCryosphere and Hydrologic Variability contains a sec-tion on onshore and offshore permafrost. Contribut-ing and consulting authors are Vladimir Romanovsky

(USA) for terrestrial permafrost and Steven Solomon(Canada) for offshore permafrost. Permafrost topicsincluded in Chapter 5 are:- overview of permafrost: terrestrial and undersea.- factors affecting permafrost extent, thickness.- current status of permafrost modelling.- recent variations of permafrost.- projected changes: active layer thickness; extent of

continuous and discontinuous permafrost; uncer-tainties in projected changes.

Additional information on Chapter 15 on Infrastruc-ture, including Business/Industry is reported in theEngineering WG report.

At the 7th International Conference on Permafrost,the Global Change Working Group announced thegoal of increasing the visibility and significance ofpermafrost terrain in the context of natural hazardsresearch. Some progress toward this goal was madethis year through publication of a short report in thejournal Nature delimiting areas of the circum-Arcticregion with varying degrees of climate-related hazardpotential (Nelson et al., 2001b). This paper was givenwidespread attention by the news media, and alsogenerated considerable interest from governmentpolicy analysts. A second paper, reviewing the rela-tionships between climate change, permafrost, andimpacts on human infrastructure, has been acceptedby the journal Natural Hazards, an outlet for specialistresearch (Nelson et al., 2001a).

During the past year, work continued within sev-eral IPA activities related to Global Terrestrial Net-work for Permafrost (GTN-P) (see Frozen Ground 24,12-14). The development of the GTN-P and its web sitecontinued at the Geological Survey of Canada (http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/gtnp). The GTN-P programmecombines a component of active layer observations(the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring CALMprogramme) with a new component of permafrostthermal monitoring. Activities for the borehole com-ponent included updating the inventory of locations,and compilation of borehole metadata and its accessi-bility on the web site. A GTN-P status report was sub-mitted to the IPA Executive Committee at the 1st Euro-pean Permafrost Conference in Rome, in March 2001and is available on the GTN-P web site.

The CALM programme, centered at the Universityof Cincinnati (USA), is designed to observe theresponse of the active layer and near-surface perma-frost to climate change. The network currently incor-porates more than 100 sites involving 15 investigatingcountries in both hemispheres. Both existing PACEsites in Europe and sites in the Antarctic are beingadded to the circumpolar network. Over 60 sites col-lect data using a grid sample design, thus allowing forspatial analysis and integration with remotely senseddata. Other sites use thermistor cables to interpolateactive layer thickness. Seasonal soil thaw demon-

14 Frozen Ground

strated a consistent response to air temperature forc-ing on an interannual basis in a variety of locationsworldwide. During the period 1995-2000, some sitesin Alaska, Northwest Canada, the Nordic region andRussia experienced maximum thaw depth in 1998 anda minimum in 2000; these values were consistent withthe warmest and coolest summers. All sites demon-strate significant interannual variation. These resultsserve to emphasize the need for standardized, re-gional collection of long-term measurements in an ef-fort to discriminate spatial and temporal patterns. Acomplete issue of Polar Geography is devoted to docu-menting the present CALM network and reportinginitial results from the 1990s.Anisimov, O., Fitzharris, B., Hagen, J.O., Jeffries, R.,

Marchant, H., Nelson, F.E., Prowse, T. andVaughan, D.G. (2001). Polar Regions (Arctic andAntarctic). In Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation,and Vulnerability, the Contribution of Working Group IIof the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,Third Assessment Review. Cambridge UniversityPress, Cambridge, 801-841.

Nelson, F.E., Anisimov, O.A. and Shiklomanov, N.I.(2001a). Climate change and hazard zonation in thecircum-Arctic permafrost regions. Natural Hazards,25, in press.

Nelson, F.E., Anisimov, O.A. and Shiklomanov, N.I.(2001b). Subsidence risk from thawing permafrost.Nature, 410(6831), 889-890.

Fritz E. Nelson (fnelson@udel.edu)Oleg A. Anisimov (oleg@oa7661.spb.edu)

Periglacial Processes and Environments

The objectives are to evaluate different methodologiesand techniques for monitoring periglacial processes,and to publish a manual of techniques. Ole Humlum(The University Courses on Svalbard, UNIS, Norway)and Norikazu Matsuoka (University of Tsukuba,Japan) are the WG cochairs.

This approach was agreed to in 1993 at the 6th Inter-national Conference in Beijing, in order to facilitatemeasurements of various periglacial processes. Theoriginal proposal received additional support at theIPA Council meetings in Berlin (1995) and Bologna(1997). In Yellowknife (1998) it was decided that themain objective of the WG should be production of thehandbook, and that this should be available at the per-mafrost conference in 2003. In order to facilitate com-ments from interested persons and institutions, a firstdraft compilation of the manual can now be found atthe homepage of The University Courses on Svalbard(www.unis.no).

During the 5th International Conference on Geo-morphology held at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan,23-28 August 2001, the WG co-sponsored a general

session (Glacial and Periglacial Geomorphology), asymposium (Glaciation and Periglaciation of AsianHigh Mountains) and a post-conference field excur-sion (Alpine Geomorphology in Central Japan). Thegeneral session included a plenary lecture on fossilfrost mounds and European palaeoclimate by AlbertPissart and 30 other presentations. A special issue ofGeomorphology is planned for papers from the session.The symposium included 27 presentations highlight-ing Quaternary glaciation as well as past and presentpermafrost conditions in a wide range of Asian moun-tains. The papers are to be published in a supplemen-tal issue of Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie. The six-dayfield excursion visited several high mountains in cen-tral Japan with 23 participants from 10 countries(Canada, Finland, Germany, Israel, Japan, Norway,Portugal, Switzerland, UK and USA). The topics in-cluded monitoring techniques for periglacial proc-esses, rock glacier recognition, and distribution ofmountain permafrost. The 73-page field guide isavailable from N. Matsuoka.

Liaison continued with the IGU Commission on Cli-mate Change and Periglacial Processes chaired by JefVandenberghe. The IGU newsletter is available viae-mail. The Commission is in its second, four-yearsterm. This, however, will be the last one in a series ofcommissions that have undertaken activities onperiglacial research in IGU since 1949. Julian Murtonis the Secretary for the Commission.

Ole Humlum (oleh@unis.no)Norikazu Matsuoka (matsuoka@atm.geo.tsukuba.ac.jp)

Permafrost Engineering

The objectives are to collect information on the prac-tices and procedures of permafrost engineering invarious regions of the world, and to facilitate commu-nications with permafrost scientists. Branko Ladanyi(Canada) and Lev Khrustalev (Russia) serve as thecochairs of this WG.

Arne Instanes (Norway) is responsible for the engi-neering component of the Arctic Climate Impact As-sessment (ACIA) project organized under the aus-pices of the Arctic Council. The overall ACIA objec-tives are to evaluate and synthesize knowledge on cli-mate variability, climate change, and increased ultra-violet radiation and their consequences (see http://www.acia.uaf.edu/). The main section concerningpermafrost engineering is contained in Chapter 15: In-frastructure, including Business/Industry. Instanesas the lead author of the chapter is assisted by the fol-lowing contributing and corresponding authors:

Lawson Brigham (USA): marine environment/Arc-tic marine transportDouglas Goering (USA): heat and mass transfer/in-frastructure North-American Arctic.

-

-

15Frozen Ground

Lev N. Khrustalev (Russia): infrastructure RussianArctic.Branko Ladanyi (Canada): infrastructure North-American Arctic.Vladimar Romanovsky (USA)- permafrost (also con-tributing to Chap. 5 on the cryosphere).Orson Smith (USA) - marine structures.

Consulting Authors: Ole Humlum (Denmark): per-mafrost Greenland, and Jan Otto Larsen (Norway):avalanches.The preliminary contents includes:1. Physical environment (in collaboration with Chap-

ter 5). Description of the present situation based onanalysis of historical meteorological data includingseasonal frost; permafrost; coastal zone; and off-shore.

2. Environmental loads:Description of environmental loads that arctic in-frastructure are subjected to during its lifetime.Probability of occurrence of extreme events basedon historical meteorological data.Consequences for different types of infrastructure.Climate scenarios and how they affect extremeevents (in collaboration with Chapter 4)

3. Hazards including: freezing/thawing; sea ice changes;floods, erosion, avalanches (geohazards); wind/snow/ice storms; ultra violet.

4. Infrastructure:Natural resources (oil, gas, mining) and energyproduction, storage, transportation.Communities (waste disposal, water supply, set-tlement relocation).Transportation systems (land, air, sea, roads, ports,airports, railroads).Military activity.

5. Engineering design, government responses, and build-ing code:Permanent foundations or essential structural ele-ments of a community.Facilities that form the basis for a country’s eco-nomical growth.

During the ACIA Steering Committee meeting inApril 2001, a schedule for report production was pro-posed with a first draft completed and reviewed by 4th

quarter 2003; and final printed report in 3rd quarter2004. As a Canadian contributor to the ACIA report,Branko Ladanyi attended the Canadian ACIA Work-shop in Calgary in October. The authors of Chapter 15conducted a workshop in Anchorage, Alaska in No-vember 2001.

WG members participated in the June conferencesin Pushchino and Moscow and cochairs presented pa-pers at both meetings (see Russian report for addi-tional information). During the Pushchino conferenceinteresting results were presented on the abnormaldeformations of pipelines at transitions in small river

valleys and on research on energy transfer using ther-mal pumps. The engineering geocryology reports pre-sented at the Moscow conference marked the follow-ing achievement for the past five years:- new method of soils cooling with the help of cooling

embankments;- new design of the year-round thermal siphon;- methods for stabilization of geocryology conditions

during building construction;- new methods for installing piles in frozen ground;- locations on a map for possible places for disposal of

nuclear wastes in the Russian North.

The University of Alberta Geotechnical Centre, Canadaconducted a five-day Permafrost Engineering Coursein May 2001. Attendees came from the geotechnicalconsulting companies, pipeline companies, miningcompanies, Northern regulators and governmentstaffs. Plans are underway to repeat the course in thefuture. For more information contact: Dave Sego(dcsego@civil.ualberta.ca); Kevin Biggar (kwbiggar @civil.ualberta.ca); or Sally Petaske (spetaske@ civil.ualberta. ca).

The Second Biennial Workshop on Assessment andRemediation of Contaminated Sites in Arctic and ColdClimates (ARCSACC) was held in Edmonton on 7-8May 2001. Both the 1999 and 2001 workshops werechaired by Kevin Biggar (University of AlbertaGeotechnical Centre), and co-chaired by Mike Nahir(PWGSC Environmental Services Division). Approxi-mately 230 attendees heard presentations on a widevariety of topics relating to cold regions contaminatedsite assessment and clean-up. Sessions included: riskassessment and site characterization (8 papers); siteremediation (8 papers); bioremediation (8 papers);mining (5 papers); and contaminant fate and transport(4 papers). Copies of the proceedings (305 pages) areavailable for $100 CA from the Geotechnical Centre.Contact either Kevin Biggar or Sally Petaske. Plans areunderway to host the third workshop in 2003(www.merlin.civil.ualberta.ca/ARCSACC).

Members of the Working Group plan to meet in May2002 during the 11th International Cold Regions Engi-neering Conference, in Anchorage, Alaska. Asreported elsewhere, Ted Vinson is completing the re-port ‘Strategic Plan for Cold Regions Engineering Re-search in the New Millennium’, based on the June2000 conference.

Cochair Ladanyi has registered his name in the ros-ter of the University of the Arctic, with its Arctic Coor-dinating Office, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi,Finland (uarctic@urova.fi). His participation will pro-vide IPA with a link to these activities.

Lev Khrustalev (lev-khrus@mtu-net.ru)Branko Ladanyi (bladanyi@mail.polymtl.ca)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

16 Frozen Ground

Cryosols

The objectives are to establish interactions betweengeocryology and soil science, prepare a Cryosolsmonograph and global Cryosols classification andcircumpolar soil database, and organize the Third In-ternational Conference on Cryopedology which washeld in Denmark in 2001. Charles Tarnocai (Canada)and Sergey Goryachkin (Russia) are the WG cochairs.

The major activities of the Cryosols Working Group(CWG) in 2001 involved co-organising the Third Inter-national Conference on Cryopedology (see separatedescription earlier in this issue) and working groupmeetings in Russia (Moscow and Pushchino), Austria(Laxenburg) and Denmark (Copenhagen).

The January 2001 meeting in Moscow was held dur-ing the visit of Charles Tarnocai. The five membersfrom Russia and Canada discussed the future of theCWG in IPA and International Union of Soil Science,its priorities, the problems to be focused on, and thefuture scope and name of the IPA group dealing withpermafrost-affected soils following the 2003 perma-frost conference. Several ideas for the future directionof the group were discussed, mostly concerning theecological significance of Cryosols. It was decidedthat the discussions should continue at ensuing CWGmeetings.

The March 2001 meeting in Laxenburg followed theInternational Circumpolar Soil Database Workshop,which was also organized by the CWG. Five membersof the working group from Norway, Germany, Russia,Denmark and Canada attended. It was agreed that theEurasian portion of the Circumpolar Soil Databaseshould be updated in cooperation with the EU SoilBureau and other interested groups and agencies.Charles Tarnocai subsequently presented this multi-authored work, together with the 1:15 million scaleNorthern Circumpolar Soils map at the Copenhagenconference in August 2001. It was also decided thatfour separate Circumpolar Soil Maps, based on theWRB, U. S. Soil Taxonomy, Canadian and Russian soilclassifications, would be prepared for presentation atthe 17th International Congress of Soil Science to beheld in Bangkok in August 2002. The programme forthe Third International Conference on Cryopedologywas finalized. Progress on the Cryosol book was re-viewed and changes were made to various chapters.The technical edit of the chapters should be completedin early 2002. The future of the Cryosol WorkingGroup was again discussed. Members felt that thename of the working group should not be changed.

The June 2001 meeting in Pushchino was held dur-ing the International Conference on Conservation andTransformation of Substance and Energy in EarthCryosphere. Five members from Russia and Germanyattended. Results of the CWG meeting in Austria andthe future of the CWG were discussed with Russian

colleagues. Members felt that the future name of theIPA working group should contain the word ‘soil’.

The last meeting of the CWG in 2001 was held inAugust in Copenhagen, following the Third Interna-tional Conference on Cryopedology. CWG membersfrom Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russiaand the USA participated. They decided that a homepage for Cryopedology and the CWG should be de-veloped to ensure that activities and expertise couldbe made known to other disciplines via the internet.The CWG supported the idea of taking an active partin the 8th International Conference on Permafrost, andto emphasize the importance of Cryosols, and the ap-plication of the Circumpolar Soil Database to deter-mining carbon stocks in permafrost-affected soils atthis conference. It was decided that 1:10 million scalemaps showing the spatial distribution of (1) soil andpermafrost, (2) soil organic carbon contents (kg/m2),and (3) soil organic carbon stocks or mass (Gt) wouldbe generated. It was also decided that the Fourth Inter-national Conference on Cryopedology would be heldin Apatity, Kola Peninsula, Russia in 2005 and that afield excursion to northern Finland and Norwayshould be organized as part of the conference. It wasconcluded that the future direction and name of theCWG should be reviewed prior to the conference inZurich.

The Workshop on the Northern Circumpolar SoilDatabase and Relevant Soil Maps is planned to takeplace in Lincoln, Nebraska, on 6-7 March 2002. Theworkshop is part of the annual meeting of the jointIUSS and IPA Cryosols Working Groups. CochairGoryachkin is participating on a Fulbright Fellowshipin the Lincoln laboratories.

Sergey Goryachkin(Sergey.Goryachkin@nsscnt.nssc.nrcs.usda.gov)

Charles Tarnocai (tarnocaict@em.agr.ca)

Coastal and Offshore Permafrost

The objective is to encourage the interaction of investi-gations on the subjects of onshore, transitional andoffshore permafrost and hydrates. Hans Hubberten(Germany) and Nikolai Romanovskii (Russia) arecochairs of this WG. Steven Solomon (Canada) chairsthe Coastal Erosion Subgroup.

A special session on ‘ Coastal and Marine Environ-ments’ was held at the 1st European Permafrost Con-ference in Rome in March 2001. The session waschaired by Hubberten and consisted of eight oral pres-entations and three posters. Another special sessionon ‘Land-Ocean Interactions in Polar Regions (Arcticand Antarctica)’ was held during the annual Pushchinoconference, 1-5 June 2001. Romanovskii and Hub-berten cochaired the session. Eleven papers and oneplenary lecture were presented. Felix Are (Russia) and

17Frozen Ground

Volker Rachold (Germany) organized a roundtableon ‘Arctic Sea Coasts Thermoabrasion’. Future strat-egies within the framework of the IPA-IASC ACDprogramme were discussed with special emphasison the incorporation of Russian institutions into thisprogramme. As a follow up several INTAS proposalswere developed by the ACD secretariat to supportthe collaboration in Russia. Another session relatedto the WG titled ‘Gas Hydrates and Natural Gases inthe Earth Cryosphere’ was held in Pushchino, andchaired by V.S. Yakushev and A.N. Nesterov (Rus-sia).

Major progress has been achieved in the CoastalErosion Subgroup, especially with respect to the Arc-tic Coastal Dynamics Program. The ACD aims todevelop and coordinate a multi-national, multi-dis-ciplinary programme of circum-Arctic coastal re-search. During the Arctic Summit Week in Iqaluit,Nunavat, Canada, 23-27 April 2001, V. Rachold pre-

sented several ACD reports. The Council of the Inter-national Arctic Science Committee (IASC) approvedfunding for a second annual ACD workshop. Theprinted version of the ACD five-year Science and Im-plementation Plan was distributed in Iqaluit, and isavailable from the secretariat in Potsdam (http://

www.awi-potsdam.de/www-pot/geo/acd.html) orfrom the IASC secretariat (http://www.iasc.no).

The second ACD workshop took place in Potsdam(Germany) from 26-30 November 2001, and includedpresentations and discussions according to Phase 1 ofthe Implementation Plan (see table) and a meetingof the ACD Steering Committee (contact: vrachold @awi-potsdam.de). Twenty-five abstracts were submit-ted and are available on the ACD web. Results of theworkshop, including extended abstracts, are plannedto be published in a dedicated issue of the AWI journalReports of Polar and Marine Research. The AWI datamanagement system PANGAEA was adopted forACD. Plans for future workshops and meeting weredeveloped including the next year ’s workshop inOslo and sessions at the Zurich conference and at theHalifax Arctic Margins Conference in 2003.

The Russian-German Cooperation Otto SchmidtLaboratory (OSL) for Polar and Marine Sciences es-tablished at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute(AARI) in St. Petersburg was officially inaugurated byrepresentatives of the German and Russian Ministriesof Science and Technology on 12 October 2000. A sec-ond year programme on the evolution of past and re-cent states of terrestrial and offshore permafrost, land-ocean interactions, coastal and other processes wasstarted. As part of the Fellowship Programme–2001the project: ‘State and evolution of the upper part ofthe offshore permafrost and subsea periglacial proc-esses in condition of recent thermal regime of the bot-tom water Layer: Laptev Sea Region, Russia’ was ini-tiated by Nikolai Romanovskii and researchers Alex-ander Kholodov and Vladimir Tumskoy, Departmentof Geocryology, Moscow State University. Severalother U.S. NSF projects under the Russian-Americanprogramme are related to gas hydrates (TomOsterkamp and N. Romanovskii) and investigationson Jochov and Novaya Semlia Islands by VladimirTumskoy with joint NSF and OSL support.

Several other field projects were active along theRussian and North American coasts in summer 2001.

During July-August 2001 the joint Russian-German

Coastal erosion at Lykhovsky at the Laptev Sea coast.Photo: Hans Hubberten.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

phase1

phase2

phase3

literature reviewregional review papers

data inventory

= milestoneenvironm. dataextraction

metadatabasedatabasedevelopment

identify gaps

monitoring network

initiate project proposals

focused projects

initiate project proposals

classification

prototype refined classification

map products

digital map of metadatadigital index map

modeling

web site

web-deliverable metadatabase

Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) working plan.

18 Frozen Ground

expedition studied coastal processes in the Lena Deltaregion. The special task during the expedition LENA2001 was the investigation of the complex coastal dy-namics along the west coast of the Lena Delta, the socalled Arga complex. David Gilichinsky led field in-vestigations on the Quaternary geology and perma-frost of the Bykovsky and Sviatoy Nos peninsulas,Laptev Sea region. Andrei Sher’s research team con-tinued field investigation of the Ice Complex ofBykovsky peninsula.

A Canadian coastal field programme was under-taken in the Beaufort Sea in order to develop a betterunderstanding of coastal stability at a major archaeo-logical site (Kittigazuit). Surveys were also under-taken to assess the impact of a major storm thatoccurred in August 2000. Oil and gas exploration inthe Mackenzie Delta and along the Beaufort coast isexpanding rapidly and the demand for coastal infor-mation is growing. Consulting companies operatingon behalf of oil companies have collected informationon coastal water temperatures and currents for inputinto coupled thermal-hydrodynamic erosion models.Collaborative investigations of storm surges on theU.S. and Canadian Beaufort Sea coasts were contin-ued this field season with the deployment of 10 tem-porary water level gauges.

The Canadian Panel on Energy Research and De-velopment has funded a project to investigate verticalmotions on Arctic coastlines. Permanent GPS receiv-ers were installed at three sites along the CanadianArctic coast (Resolute Bay, Holman, and Inuvik). Ice-berg scours, habitat mapping and granular resourceswere the focus of a two-week Geological Survey ofCanada (GSC) sidescan and multibeam cruise to theinner shelf (10 m to 50 m) waters of the Canadian Beau-fort Sea. The GSC also has a programme to investigatethe origin and distribution of subsea permafrost in theBeaufort Sea region, but no fieldwork was undertakenthis year. Finally, the Canadian Climate Action Fundhas contributed funding in support of the installationof Arctic tide gauges. Present plans are to install co-lo-cated tide gauges and GPS receivers at three as-yet-to-be-determined sites on the Canadian coast.

Several ACD key sites were established in theAlaskan Beaufort Sea at Elson Lagoon (Barrow) byJerry Brown and Orson Smith in cooperation with theBarrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC), and inBeaufort Lagoon (Katovik) by Torre Jorgeson in coop-eration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)and the Geological Survey of Canada. A five-year, U.S.NSF-funded project on Climate Variability on theNorth Slope was initiated this year by personnel fromthe University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado(Amanda Lynch, PI). The purpose of this project is toenable the people of this coastal region to make moreinformed decisions in response to climate variabilityincluding changes in temperatures, extent of sea ice,

and permafrost over years and decades. Analyses oflarge storm events and impacts of coastal erosion onlocal communities are part of the programme.Mesurements of shoreline changes along the ChukchiSea coast were initiated by William Manley.

The Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Re-search Network (C-CIARN) agreed to fund a coastalnode, located at the Bedford Institute of Oceanogra-phy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The function of thecoastal node will be to coordinate and facilitate re-search on coastal impacts and adaptation. The Cana-dian Arctic is one of the foci of planned activities andinteraction with ACD is anticipated during the devel-opment of the node’s activities.

Hans Hubberten (hubbert@awi-potsdam.de)Nikolai N. Romanovski (nromanovsky@glas.apc.org)

Steven Solomon (solomon@agc.bio.ns.ca)

Southern Hemisphere Permafrost andPeriglacial Environments

The objectives are to create a scientific platform tostimulate interaction between permafrost andperiglacial researchers in the Southern Hemisphere,and to synthesise permafrost and periglacial data andinformation, including existing IPA initiatives in theregion. Jan Boelhouwers (Sweden) and Kevin Hall(Canada) are cochairs.

The publication of the reviews on Southern Hemi-sphere permafrost and periglacial research, initiallypresented at the 1999 INQUA Congress, is in its finalstages with the South African Journal of Science. A syn-thesis of these papers is in preparation for publicationin Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. A second activityof the WG is the preparation of a Southern Hemi-sphere bibliography. A draft copy was compiled andcontains close to 1000 references. The final copy will beincluded on the CAPS CD II. Our next focus is to com-pile an initial inventory of maps containing informa-tion on the permafrost and periglacial landform distri-bution in the Southern Hemisphere.

Several developments have taken place regardingthe advancement of permafrost science in the Antarc-tic. Following the May 2000 presentation to the Scien-tific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) pro-gramme on Regional Sensitivity to Climate Change(RiSCC) in Antarctic Terrestrial Ecosystems, activelayer monitoring was accepted within the RiSCC sci-ence plan. Monitoring protocols for the Antarctic arein the process of beginning finalised. Objectives forAntarctic permafrost science were formulated as fol-lows:1. Monitoring of the permafrost spatial distribution,

temperature and active layer thickness (GTN-P,CALM).

2. Monitoring and analysis of environmental parameters

19Frozen Ground

(especially temperature, radiation, moisture) that actas controls on permafrost and periglacial processes.Field-based monitoring of permafrost and perigla-cial processes in soil/rock, and the rates at whichthese operate.Field-based analysis of the physical/chemical mani -festations/morphology that result from these proc-esses.Past climate reconstructions using permafrost indi-cators.Permafrost and periglacial process interactions withother abiotic (hydrological, pedological) and bioticcomponents of ecosystems.

During the 1st European Permafrost Conference inRome the relationship of IPA with the SCAR was fur-ther discussed. As the scientific objectives are unlikelyto be accommodated in a separately funded scientificactivity a working relationship with the RiSCC pro-gramme was seen as an appropriate approach. Thiswas proposed and accepted at the RiSCC workshop inAmsterdam in September 2001. Temperature moni-toring in the active layer and soil disturbance meas-urements were included in the RiSCC methodologydescriptions; protocols are being prepared by MauroGuglielmin and Jan Boelhouwers, respectively.Where appropriate, geomorphological expert inputwill be invited for studies at the RiSCC core sites.

A further development is that the IPA will table adocument at the SCAR 2002 meeting in Shanghai,China, that proposes the establishment of a formalworking relationship between the SCAR and IPA. Thedocumentation will include information on currentand planned permafrost activities by national pro-grammes in the Antarctic. Scientists involved in suchprogrammes should send this information to JanBoelhouwers by early 2002.

Jan Boelhouwers (jan.boelhouwers@natgeog.uu.se)Kevin Hall (hall@unbc.ca)

TASK FORCESRock Glacier Dynamics and Permafrost Creep

The objectives are to establish the basis for and initiatenumerical modelling concerning flow of ice/rockmixtures on slope. Wilfried Haeberli (Switzerland) isthe TF chair assisted by Bernard Hallet (USA). The ac-tivities are jointly organized by IPA and the Interna-tional Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI).

The Task Force had its main meeting at the 1st Euro-pean Permafrost Conference in Rome. Session 3 of theconference was devoted to presentations and discus-sions on permafrost creep and rock glacier dynamics.Following the introduction by W. Haeberli, the pro-gramme included state-of-the art reports on thermal

conditions (D. Vonder Mühll), internal composition(N. Matsuoka), geometry and kinematics (A. Kääb)and rheology (S. Springman). A total of 27 posters (twoon thermal conditions, five on composition, ten on ge-ometry and kinematics, three on rheology and six ondistribution and climate) were orally introduced andpresented for extensive discussions. Task Force mem-bers are planning a final report. The most likely formof this report would be a collection of extended ab-stracts with selected key graphs and extensive refer-ences. The product would to be available at the ICOP2003.

Wilfried Haeberli (haeberli@geo.unizh.ch)

Mapping and Distribution Modelling ofMountain Permafrost

The objective of the TF is to develop systematic strate-gies for mapping and modelling the distribution ofmountain permafrost at different scales. The TaskForce builds on the accomplishments of the formerWG on Mountain Permafrost. Bernd Etzelmüller(Norway) and Martin Hoelzle (Switzerland) arecochairs of the TF.

Mountain permafrost mapping and distributionmodelling is a research field of high interest, becauseof its linkage to climate change and hazard assess-ment. The TF was founded during the IPA Yellowknifemeeting in 1998. An e-mail list of about 50 interestedcolleagues is maintained at the University of Oslofrom http://www.geografi.uio.no/ipa. Participationis open to all interested persons.

During the past year the TF has concentrated on itsformal meetings and symposium during the 1st Euro-pean Conference on Permafrost in Rome. The TF ses-sion included 10 oral presentations and 15 poster pres-entations. All participants were invited to give a paperin a special issue in the Norwegian Journal of Geographyon ‘Mountain permafrost mapping and distributionmodelling’. Twelve papers were finally accepted fol-lowing the scientific reviews.

The objective of this special issue is to give a sort ofstate-of-the-art within high-mountain mapping andmodelling of permafrost, together with recent studieswithin this field. The contributions in this special issueare in three major fields. The process studies describeinteractions between permafrost occurrence and ex-ternal factors, such as glaciers or snow. The modellingmethods show different approaches of modelling pastand present permafrost distribution. The regionalstudies focus on fieldwork and apply modelling todelineate the permafrost occurrence in certain re-gions. This special issue provides an introduction onrecent research conducted within this field and isscheduled to appear in December 2001. The content ofthe special issue (in alphabetical order) is as follows:

3.

4.

5.

6.

20 Frozen Ground

Etzelmüller, B., Hoelzle, M., Heggen, E., Isaksen, K.,Mittaz, C., Vonder Mühll, D., Ødegård, R.S.,Haeberli, W. & Sollid, J.L. - Mapping and modellingthe occurrence and distribution of mountain per-mafrost .

Frauenfelder, R., Haeberli, W., Hoelzle, M. & Maisch,M - Using relict rock glaciers in GIS-based model-ling to reconstruct Younger Dryas permafrost dis-tribution patterns in the Err-Julier area, Swiss Alps.

Heggem, E.S.F, Etzelmüller, B. & Berthling, I. -Topo-graphic radiation balance models – sensitivity andapplication in periglacial geomorphology .

Ishikawa, M. & Sawagaki, T. – GIS-simulation of thespatial distribution of snow cover and observedground temperatures in the Daisetsu Mountains,Japan.

Lambiel, C. & Reynard, E. - Regional modelling ofpresent,past and future potential distribution ofdiscontinuous permafrost based on a rock glacierinventory in the Bagnes-Hérémence Area (WesternSwiss Alps).

Lugon. R. & Delaloyé, R. - Modelling alpine perma-frost distribution, Val de Réchy, Valais Alps (Swit-zerland).

Marchenko, S.S. – A model of permafrost formationand occurrences in the intracontinental mountains.

Moscicki, J.W. & Kodzia, S. – Investigation of moun-tain permafrost in Kozia Dolinka valley, TatraMountains, Poland.

Oberman, N.G. & Mazhitova, G.G. - Permafrost dy-namics in the north-east of European Russia at theend of the 20th century.

Serrano, E., Agudo, C., Dalaloyé, R. & Gonzáles-Trueba, J.J. - Permafrost distribution in the PosetMassif (Cebtral Pyrenees).

Tannaro, L.M., Hoelzle, M., García, A., Ramos, M.,Gruber, S., Gómez, A., Piquer, M. & Palacios, D. -Permafrost Distribution Modelling in the Moun-tains of the Mediterranean: Corral del Veleta, SierraNevada, Spain.

Zhang, T, Barry, R.G. & Haeberli, W. - Numericalsimulations of the influence of the seasonal snowcover on the occurrence of permafrost at high lati-tudes.

The TF was represented by B. Etzelmüller at the Inter-national Symposium on Arid Land Permafrost, inUlaanbataar, Mongolia, in September 2001. A main fo-cus of the symposium was devoted to the permafrostdistribution mapping and modelling of the central-Asian mountain permafrost, which was introduced tothe participants both in presentations and the fieldtrips.

With the TF meeting in Rome and the publication ofthe special issue on mapping and modelling of moun-tain permafrost, the official work of the TF is com-pleted. A report of the TF will be presented at the 8th

ICOP, as will be a discussion of the future continuation

of the efforts. Input and opinions from the TF partici-pants are highly welcome prior to the ICOP. Mean-while, the TF plans to pursue recommendations of theMongolian symposium and field trips. These includeapplication of modern GIS-based permafrost distri-bution modelling approaches. Finally, we hope to seemany contributions resulting from the TF activities atthe 8th ICOP.

Bernd Etzelmüller (bernd.etzelmuller@geografi.uio.no)Martin Hoelzle (hoelzle@geo.unizh.ch )

Isotope/Geochemistry of Permafrost

The objectives are to promote application of isotopegeochemical methods in permafrost research, to iden-tify the main gaps in knowledge for successful appli-cation of isotopic methods in permafrost studies, andto develop an internationally accepted protocol. ReinVaikmae (Estonia) is the TF chair assisted by HansHubberten.

Informal discussions concerning the scope of activi-ties continued. Rein Vaikmae and Hans Hubbertenmet in April and agreed that the TF should develop aquestionaire for distribution to interested partici-pants. Information on type of investigations, workingareas, special interests, etc. would be requested. Thenext steps would be preparation of an inventory ofsites that have employed isotopes in the Arctic and abibliography. A TF secretariat was established at AWIin Potsdam with Hanno Meyer undertaking the activ-ity. These plans were reviewed at a meeting betwe-en Hubberten and Vasilchuk in June during thePushchino conference.

The textbook Principles of Isotopic Geocryology andGlaciology by Vasilchuk and Kotlyakov was publishedin 2001 by Moscow University Press. Vasilcuk has en-tered into bilateral agreements related to isotopeanalyses with Austria and South Korea.

Under the umbrella of an INTAS project on the ‘LatePleistocene history reconstruction based on the mas-sive ground ice origin in the Arctic coastal zone’ (H.-W. Hubberten, Potsdam; M. O. Leibman, Russia) im-portant information concerning the genesis of groundice bodies on Yamal and Yogorsky Peninsulas was ob-tained by stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope stud-ies. Stable isotope investigations on the ice complex ofBykovsky Peninsula and the Big Lyachov Island of theLaptev Sea (H. Meyer) contributed to the climate his-tory of that area since the middle Weichselian. Achanging atmospheric circulation pattern at thePleistocene Quaternary boundary could be shown bythe d-excess values of these sequences.

Hans Hubberten (hubbert@awi-potsdam.de)Rein Vaikmae (vaikmae@gi.ee)

21Frozen Ground

News from MembersAustriaIn the Austrian Alps permafrost research takes placeat selected sites of the Hohe Tauern Range and theTyrolean Alps. Special emphasis is placed on annualmeasurements of the following parameters on activerock glaciers: temperature measurements on the sur-face and within the active layer of permafrost areas,hydrological investigations (temperature, water stor-age and discharge, hydrochemical characteristics),and geodetic and photogrammetric monitoring ofsurface velocity and vertical changes of active rockglaciers.

Especially Karl Krainer (University of Innsbruck)and Viktor Kaufmann (Graz University of Technol-ogy) are involved in these activities which have re-cently been documented by several publications andon the homepages of their institutions (www. uibk. ac.at /projects/rockglacier and www. cis. TUGraz.at/photo/viktor.kaufmann/publications). In addition,the permafrost relevant data collected in the last years(temperature data logging) will be available fordownloading at www. kfunigraz. ac. at/geowww inearly 2001.

Hanns Kerschner (University of Innsbruck) and hisco-workers investigated relict rock glaciers andmoraines in the Western Austrian Alps for recon-structing palaeoclimatic conditions. The main resultsare that the climate within the Younger Dryas changedfrom cold and wet to cold and was significantly drierin this region. Several stades of rock glacier formationcan be distinguished; the last of which may be contem-poraneous with the Preboreal oscillation.

Some further activities are going on within theframework of diploma and Ph.D. theses. Among theseare several local studies dealing with permafrost map-ping in the field, permafrost modelling using remotesensing and GIS techniques, and the evaluation of thecontinuous measurements mentioned above. Re-cently the Geological Survey of Austria has also startedgeophysical soundings in a permafrost area of theHohe Tauern range. Finally, some investigations arecarried out outside Austria partly dealing with per-mafrost, e.g. glacier research in Iceland (University ofInnsbruck) and geoecological activities in the RussianArctic (University of Vienna).

Gerhard Karl Lieb (gerhard.lieb@kfunigraz.ac.at)

CanadaOngoing, newly funded, as well as recently com-pleted permafrost research activities are highlightedin this report, with major contributions by the Geo-logical Survey of Canada (GSC) and the Centred’Etudes Nordiques, Laval University.

Monitoring Networks: The GSC received fundingin 2001 for four years from the federal government’s

Action Plan 2000 to develop and implement theframework and infrastructure for a national perma-frost monitoring network. This project is a componentof a successful larger multi-partner submission onSystematic Climate Observations – Atmosphere,Oceans and Cryosphere. This initiative will allowCanada to make progress in meeting its obligations toprovide systematic cryospheric observations underthe World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO)Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and to ad-dress the recommendations and concerns raised at theCanadian permafrost monitoring workshop (http://sts. gsc. nrcan. gc.ca/permafrost/pfworkenter.htm).A data management node and web site will be estab-lished at the GSC which will coordinate submissionand dissemination of active layer and permafrost ther-mal data from network sites as well as forming a linkto other cryospheric nodes such as the Global Terres-trial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P), the CanadianCryospheric Information Network (CCIN), CRYSYS(CRYospheric SYStem) and its related State of theCryosphere in Canada web sites (http://www. socc.uwaterloo.ca/permafrost/permafrost_current.cfm)and (http://www.crysys.uwaterloo.ca/education/permafrost/permafrost_edu.cfm ).

The GSC continues to actively contribute to the de-velopment and implementation of the IPA’s GTN-P,an international programme of systematic observa-tions of active layer and permafrost temperatures un-der GCOS . The GTN-P’s web site is hosted by the GSC(http://sts.gsc. nrcan. gc.ca/gtnp). A status reportsubmitted in March 2001 and the borehole inventoryand metadata can be accessed on the site. Contacts: M.Burgess and S. Smith.

National permafrost databases: The GSC publisheda Canadian permafrost thickness database (Smith andBurgess, 2002) which is a compilation of publiclyavailable information for about 1000 sites. This data-base will also soon be made accessible through theGSC permafrost web site. The Canadian GeothermalData Collection - Northern Wells contains subsurfacetemperature data collected by the GSC from boreholesof depths greater than 125m within the Canadian per-mafrost region. Ground temperature logs from thiscollection as well the national summary permafrosttemperature database (GSC Open File 3954) may nowbe accessed through the National Database section ofGSC permafrost web site (http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/permafrost/). Contact: S. Smith.

Regional and national syntheses: The GSC recentlypublished two regional bulletins summarizing theresults of two of its three 1990s Integrated Researchand Monitoring Areas Programmes: the MackenzieValley (Dyke and Brooks, 2000) and the FosheimPeninsula of Ellesmere Island (Garneau and Alt,2000). These synthesis reports summarize baseline en-vironmental conditions, examine the environmental

22 Frozen Ground

response to climate change, and include several pa-pers of interest to permafrost scientists. The GSC alsopublished a synthesis of geological hazards inCanada, a document which includes two papers onpermafrost related hazards (Smith et al., 2001; Smith,2001).

Gas-Hydrate Research: During the winter of 2002a consortium of seven international partners willundertake a gas-hydrate research, well programme atthe Mallik site in the Mackenzie Delta. The project willinclude the drilling of a 1200 m deep main productionresearch well and two nearby science observationwells. Full-scale field experiments will be conductedto monitor the physical behavior of the gas hydratedeposits to depressurization and thermal productionstimulation. The spud date for the first observationwell is expected to be in December 2001, with comple-tion of the programme in early April 2002. A wideranging science and engineering research programmeis proposed with extensive research geophysics (in-cluding open hole logging, X-hole studies and VSPsurveys), core studies and long-term monitoring ofin-situ conditions. These are being coordinated andmanaged by the GSC. The scientific and engineeringresearch objectives for the production research willfocus on two themes: (1) the assessment of the produc-tion and geotechnical properties of gas hydrates, and(2) an assessment of the stability of permafrost gas hy-drates given warming trends predicted by climatechange models. Contact: S. Dallimore (sdallimore@nrcan.gc.ca).

Onshore Hydrocarbon Transportation Corridors:Both the Alaska and Mackenzie Delta Gas Producersgroups have been actively examining possible pipe-line routes for bringing Prudhoe Bay and MackenzieDelta gas, respectively, to southern markets, via thewestern Canadian Arctic. Reconnaissance level fieldprogrammes and surveys are being conducted byindustry to aid in route selection and for planning andscoping of future studies. Hydrocarbon explorationactivity has dramatically increased in the MackenzieValley and Delta especially the offshore. The GSCreceived funding from the Federal Panel on EnergyResearch and Development (PERD) to undertake per-mafrost research relevant to several of the importanttechnical issues for pipelines along these transporta-tion corridors in the onshore western Arctic. Slope sta-bility, pipeline-permafrost interactions, and dataavailability and syntheses are the major thrusts of theproject. New field studies examining creep on warmpermafrost slopes in the Mackenzie Valley were initi-ated in March 2001. A slope along the Norman Wellspipeline in the Central Mackenzie Valley wasinstrumented with inclinometers and temperaturecables in collaboration with Enbridge Pipelines. Thisnew site expands a programme on cold permafrostcreep initiated some 10 years ago in the Mackenzie

Delta. The synthesis of existing geological, geotechni-cal, geothermal data relevant to pipeline routing anddesign will involve consolidation and upgrading ofexisting databases into GIS compatible formats andincreasing the accessibility of these databases andsyntheses to stakeholders. The first product will be there-release of the Mackenzie Valley geotechnical data-base, a compilation of data from over 12,000 boreholes,in MS access format. Contacts: L. Dyke (ldyke @ nrcan.gc.ca), M. Burgess, and S. Smith.

Infrastructure Adaptation: The GSC, in conjunctionwith municipal and territorial partners, undertook acommunity based approach to assess current and po-tential future permafrost, geotechnical conditions,and infrastructure performance and sensitivity in twopilot communities: Norman Wells and Tuktoyaktuk,Northwest Territories. Digital geotechnical databaseswere compiled for each community, as well as base-line information on infrastructure, foundation sys-tems, climate, etc. The project incorporated thermalmodelling of typical permafrost and soil profiles un-der both natural and disturbed (developed) condi-tions, as well as under scenarios of climate warming.Permafrost-related infrastructure problems currentlyexist in both communities, but evolving constructionand maintenance practices have minimized the im-pacts to date. The goal of the pilot project was to de-velop an approach and framework to providestakeholders with the geoscience knowledge andtools needed for decision-making regarding the as-sessment of impacts on infrastructure and potentialadaptation measures to minimize the impacts. Severaldigital GSC Open Files (3913, D3912, and D3867) areeither published or in press. Contacts: R. Couture(rcouture@nrcan.gc.ca) and M. Burgess.

Degradation of permafrost-affected peatlands: Ananalysis of a 50-year time series of aerial photos andhigh-resolution satellite images was undertaken toquantify magnitude and rates of thaw of six perma-frost-affected peatlands sites in the Mackenzie Valleyfrom latitude 60º to 64ºN in 2000-2001 with supportfrom CCAF and the GSC. The study also examines theimpacts of degradation of peatlands on drainage andcarbon accumulation rates. Contact: S. Robinson (for-merly GSC, presently at St Lawrence University, Can-ton, N.Y.).

Extreme Warm Summer of 1998: Recent studieshave documented warming during the 1980s and1990s in the high latitudes, but 1998 was conspicuousfor the unprecedented warmth and length of the meltseason over the Canadian Arctic. This warming wasassociated with significant anomalies in many com-ponents of the cryosphere. This multi-partner multi-disciplinary project, funded by the Government ofCanada’s Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF), al-lowed the Canadian cryospheric community to docu-ment the magnitude of the cryospheric change, to

23Frozen Ground

place this in the context of the observed variability,and to develop insights into the processes and feed-backs associated with extreme warm years. Theproject also provided the opportunity to compile andconsolidate a large number of cryospheric data setsthat were widely dispersed amongst various govern-ment, university and industry researchers. The indi-vidual project reports examining the response of vari-ous components of the cryosphere are availableon-line through the meetings sections of the CRYSYSweb site (http://www.crysys.uwaterloo.ca/science/meetings/2001_meeting/).

Contributions to the permafrost component in-clude:Active layer and permafrost temperatures in the Mac-kenzie Delta, Alert and Baker Lake (Smith, Burgessand Nixon, GSC);Recent warming impacts in the Mackenzie Delta andnorthern Yukon coastal areas (Wolfe, Kotler andNixon, GSC);Active layer detachment slides on the Fosheim Penin-sula (Lewkowicz, University of Ottawa).The first two contributions were published as GSCCurrent Research papers.

Mackenzie Valley spatial ground temperaturemodelling: GSC researchers have developed a GIS-resident, ground temperature modelling capability tofacilitate the investigation of ground thermal condi-tions in northern regions. The physically-based nu-meric model generates predictions of ground tem-perature based on available information about local/regional climate and terrain conditions. The modelprovides estimates of the equilibrium distributionand thickness of permafrost under ‘current’ climaticconditions, and can predict changes in response to fu-ture climate scenarios. Initial low resolution (1km)modelling has produced preliminary maps depictingpermafrost characteristics in the broader MackenzieRiver Valley (CCAF Report A073). Work is continuingon the consolidation of a high-resolution (30m) digitaldatabase to support detailed modelling of groundthermal conditions in the vicinity of major communi-ties in the Valley. This work was funded by PERD,CCAF and GSC. Contact: F. Wright (fwright@nrcan.gc.ca).

Coastal Investigations: See the report of the Work-ing Group on Coastal and Offshore Permafrost forGSC investigations based at the Bedford Institute ofOceanography. Contact: S. Solomon (solomon @agc.bio.ns.ca).

Centre d’Ètudes Nordiques (CEN) research: Thecollaboration between CEN and the Bundesanstalt fürGeowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) continuedin the field in Northern Québec in June 2001 with datarecovery from thermistor strings and data loggers in aseries of drill holes in a lithalsa. Data from a gauge thatmeasures water pressure at the base of the permafrost

was also recovered (see the German report in this issueof Frozen Ground). A comprehensive series of meas-urements were also made in cased drill holes at thesites in the lithalsa (a clay permafrost mound), and asandy permafrost mound using thermal profiling andGPR tomography. Results were presented and de-scribed at the 1st European Permafrost Conference inRome.

The GPR tomography work is the focus of a mastersthesis project. A new approach combining field conepenetration tests (CPT) through permafrost with seis-mic tomography was also applied in the study areaand forms the basis of another masters thesis project.Analysis and interpretation of core data, in-situ CPTtests from 2000, and thermal modelling applied to theclay permafrost mound is underway as a doctoral the-sis. A regional sampling of ground ice, to depths downto 6 m, was performed east of Hudson Bay with port-able drilling equipment, and is the subject of a doc-toral dissertation aimed at understanding the proc-esses of permafrost aggradation in uplifted marinesediments through cryofacies analysis and isotopicanalysis of ground ice and trapped gases.

Work on another doctoral project took place onBylot Island in the High Arctic. The project involveddrilling in low-centered polygons to reconstruct thepalaeoclimatic changes recorded in the stratigraphyof aeolian and organic sediments in syngenetic per-mafrost. Pingos were also cored and described in sec-tions along river banks. GPR profiling of polygonfields and pingos was conducted.

CEN is making a special effort to bring up to dateand verify the quality of data from many thermistorcables and automatic meteorological stations acrossnorthern Québec. It appears that the trend of change inthe Ungava peninsula changed from cooling to warm-ing between 1995 and 2001. Contact: Michel Allard(michel.allard@cen.ulaval.ca).

Drilling operation in Northern Quebec. Photo: Michel Allard.

24 Frozen Ground

Dyke, L.D. and Brooks, G.R. (eds.). 2000. The physicalenvironment of the Mackenzie Valley, NorthwestTerritories: a baseline for the assessment of envi-ronmental change; Geological Survey of Canada Bulle-tin #547, 208 p.

Garneau, M. and Alt, B.T. (eds.). 2000. Environmental re-sponse to climate change in the Canadian High Arctic;Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin #529, 401 p.

Smith, S.L., Burgess, M.M., and Heginbottom, J.A.2001. Permafrost In Canada, a challenge to north-ern development. in A Synthesis of GeologicalHazards in Canada, G.R. Brooks (ed.). GeologicalSurvey of Canada Bulletin #548, p. 241-264.

Smith, S.L. 2001. Natural gas hydrates. in A Synthesisof Geological Hazards In Canada, G.R. Brooks(ed.). Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin #548, p.265-280.

Smith, S.L. and Burgess, M.M., 2002. A digital data-base of permafrost thickness in Canada. GeologicalSurvey of Canada, Open File Report #4173.

Margo Burgess (mburgess@nrcan.gc.ca)Sharon Smith (ssmith@nrcan.gc.ca)

China

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is now under constructionon the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Construction of the rail-way at its northern and southern sections, which arewithin non-permafrost regions, is being conducted bya number of construction companies of China. TheFirst Survey and Design Institute of the Ministry of theRailway of China is surveying and designing the sec-tions of the railway in the permafrost regions. Re-search on the design, construction and operation ofthis railway in the permafrost region on the plateauhas primarily been carried out by the State Key Labo-ratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, CAREERI, CAS, theNorthwest Branch of the China Academy of RailwaySciences, and the First Survey and Design Institute ofthe Ministry of Railway of China.

The Chinese Society of Glaciology and Geocryologyplans to organie the Sixth National Conference onGlaciology and Geocryology, which will be held 27-29March 2002 in Lanzhou, China. This conference is or-ganised to summarize and exchange the achieve-ments and experience on scientific research and engi-neering practice in cold regions in recent years and toselect a number of papers to be submitted to the nextInternational Conference on Permafrost in 2003. Sci-entists and engineers who are interested in this fieldfrom China and other countries are welcome to par-ticipate in this conference.

A new book entitled ´Fracture Mechanics of FrozenSoil and Its Application´ written by Prof. Li Hong-sheng and Prof. Zhu Yuanlin will be published in theend of 2001. This book is written in Chinese, but with

English contents, abstracts and figure and table texts.The book ́ Geocryology in China´ published in 2000

in Chinese, was reviewed extensively by TingjunZhang, University of Colorado, USA, in Permafrost andPeriglacial Processes.

Zhu Yuanlin(zhuyl@ns.lzb.ac.cn)

Denmark

Research in Disko Island (70°N) relating to rock gla-cier dynamics and surface climate has been continuedby Ole Humlum, University of Copenhagen. Both airtemperatures, ground surface temperatures, as wellas active layer temperatures, are being measured. Thesnow cover duration has been studied at two rock gla-ciers by use of automatic digital cameras. Measure-ments of precipitation close to the rock glacier initia-tion line (RILA) are carried out on an experimentalbasis. Also the headwall weathering rate and the rockglacier role as a transport agent in high-relief arctic re-gions is investigated. Five active rock glaciers locatedin various meteorological settings in Disko Island arenow included in this general monitoring programme.A CALM site near the Arctic Station (Disko Island) hasbeen in operation since 1997.

In the Ammassalik area in SE Greenland (65°N) asimilar programme on periglacial geomorphologyand climate was initiated in 2000 by Ole Humlum. In2001, this programme was extended with additionaldataloggers measuring air temperature, ground tem-peratures and BTS. Also precipitation is being meas-ured at various sites within the study region. Addi-tionally, an automatic digital camera was installed inSeptember 2001, in order to obtain insight in the im-portance of wind for redistributing snow. The Am-massalik area is of special interest, as MAAT at sea-level is close to 0°C and various types of permafrosttherefore may be expected in transects from sea levelto the highest summits (around 1100 m asl).

Ground surface temperature monitoring site at 444 m asl in theAmmassalik area, SE Greenland. Photo: Ole Humlum

25Frozen Ground

At the Faroe Islands periglacial research is contin-ued as part of the LINK research project (http://www.geogr.ku.dk/link) carried out by Hanne H. Christian-sen, University of Copenhagen and Lis Mortensen,Geological Survey of the Faroe Islands together withstudents. Mapping is carried out on the lower limitand the dynamics of active patterned ground, a verywidespread periglacial landform in the islands. Pre-liminary permafrost modelling indicates smallpatches of permafrost to exist in the northern side ofthe highest mountain Slættaratindur (882m asl). Dur-ing the summer 2001 a subhorisontal borehole wasdrilled 5m into the northern top of Slættaratindur, ena-bling ground temperture registration in the modelledpermafrost patch. Data from the first complete year(2000) of operation of the mountain meteorologicalstation at Sornfelli (740 m asl.) show a MAAT of 1.7°Cand a MAGT at 11 m depth in a borehole of almost aconstant 3°C. The Sornfelli station is the only moun-tain meteorological station in the Faroe Islands. A newproject called ´Measuring Arctic Climate on the FaroeIslands´ started in the summer of 2001. This will en-able the continued operation of the Sornfelli Station incooperation with Faroese institutions until 2004. Thisnew project is financed by the Danish EnvironmentalProtection Agency as part of the environmental sup-port programme Dancea – Danish Cooperation forEnvironment in the Arctic. The Sornfelli station hastogether with the Zackenberg station in NE Greenlandbecome part of the SCANNET EU project (see descrip-tion of SCANNET in Other News).

At the Danish Meteorological Institute, MartinStendell and Jens H. Christensen have analysed theability to simulate the global permafrost distributionwith the coupled atmosphere-ocean general circula-tion model ECHAM4/OPYC3. They have found goodagreement between modelled and observed distribu-tion of permafrost zonation for this course resolutionmodel. Analysis of the ability to describe the distribu-tion of the active-layer depth also appears promising.Projections of possible future distributions of perma-frost have succesively been analysed in two transientclimate change simulations with the same model.

The Danish Technical University has in co-opera-tion with Sanaartornermik Ilinniarfik (The BuildingEducational Centre of Greenland) started a Center forArctic Technology in Sisimiut in West GreenlandARTEK (www.arktiskcenter.gl). In September 2001ARTEK initiated the education of Arctic Engineers inCivil and Environmental Engineering at BSc and MSclevels. Half of the teaching is carried out in Greenlandin Sisimiut, while the rest takes place in Denmark atthe Danish Technical University. As part of the ARTEKmajor geoscience research topics are the activities ofNiels Foged and coworkers. They are studying geo-technical and engineering geological properties ofQuaternary marine sediments in uplifted basins (and

in the sea) that were subjected to variable permafrostconditions due to changing climatic conditions dur-ing the Holocene, and the implication to foundationdesign and major constructions. Arne Villumsen andFrancois Baumgartner , also from ARTEK, are study-ing ground water resources in sediments and fracturezones in bedrock below the permafrost and seasonalfrost layers, using geophysical methods i.e. MEP(multi-electrode geoelectrical profiling) and georadarin time and frequency domain. Water resource pros-pecting has been carried out in Kangerluk (Disko Is-land) and Sisimiut in the discontinuous permafrostzone and at Nuuk (Godthåb) and Narsarsuaq inSouthern Greenland. ARTEK intends to establish andmaintain a fruitful co-operation with other researchinstitutes in fields of common interests.

Hanne H. Christiansen (hhc@geogr.ku.dk)

Germany

The Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften undRohstoffe, Hannover, and the Centre d’ÈtudesNordiques, Université Laval, Québec (Georg Delisle),joint-project on investigation of the permafrost devel-opment in emerged marine sediments near the east-ern shore of the Hudson Bay continues into its secondyear. Monitoring of subsurface temperatures of a(mineral) palsa east of Umiujaq, Nunavuk shows amean annual temperature of -0.6°C. A pressure trans-ducer positioned near the bottom of the palsa (at thefreezing front) provides a continuous record of thepore pressure indicating a strong hydraulic gradientinto the palsa. Numerical modeling to simulate annu-ally the thermal processes within the palsa is inprogress. Since the frozen core of the structure israther close to the melting point of ice, this site offers aunique opportunity to observe the effect of climaticchange in the Arctic. Therefore, it is planned to extendthe monitoring beyond 2003.

The Potsdam Research Unit of the Alfred WegenerInstitute for Polar and Marine Research (Hans-W.Hubberten) co-ordinates the multidisciplinary terres-trial part of the joint German-Russian project ‘SystemLaptev Sea 2000’. An expedition to the Lena Delta tookplace in July-August 2001 (Expedition leaders: Eva-Maria Pfeiffer and Mikhail N. Grigoriev), consistingof eight German and eight Russian scientists and tech-nicians from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yakutsk andTiksi. One team focused on modern processes in per-mafrost soils and the underlying frozen sequencesand worked from the biological station of the LenaDelta Reserve on Samoylov Island in the central partof the Lena Delta. Since 1998 the energy and water bal-ances of the active layer are registered year round atfour sites. During the field season the pedogenic andsoil microbial parameters, which control the produc-

26 Frozen Ground

tion, oxidation and emission rates of trace gases, werestudied as well as the carbon flux. The emission of CH4and CO2 from other possible sources, such as lakes andice complex deposits, have been studied. Surprisinglyhigh methane emissions have been observed from thefrozen soil as well as from the ice wedge part of the icecomplex. Several cores were drilled down to 8.5 m intothe permafrost, which will mainly be used for micro-bial and molecular biological investigations.

Under the umbrella of the IPA-IASC project ACD (Arc-tic Coastal Dynamics, Project leader: Volker Rachold,(http://www.awi-potsdam.de/www-pot/geo/acd.html), another team studied the coastal dynamics atthe west coast of the Lena Delta from a field camp atBabaryna Island. After investigating the coastal proc-esses at the eastern and western coasts of the LaptevSea in 1999 and 2000, three weeks were dedicated tostudying the complex system of the coast of the sandyArga Complex, which is separated from the openocean by shallow lagoons and tens of kilometers longnorth-south extending sand barriers. An unexpectedresult was the importance and dominance of winderosion and accumulation compared to wave action.Apart from geodetic measurements to compare theactual coastline with older aerial photographs in or-der to determine the rate of coastal retreat, shore faceprofiles were measured from the barriers to the 10 misobath and sediment samples were taken. Some re-sults of this project are presented in 14 articles in pressin a special volume of the journal Polarforschung, to beprinted early next year. A small group from the AlfredWegener Institute performed geocryological studiesin Central Yakutia between the middle Lena and theAldan rivers in cooperation with the Permafrost Insti-tute, Yakutsk.

The Department of Physical Geography, Universityof Trier (Christof Kneisel) has continued investigatinga mountain permafrost occurrence below thetimberline in the Upper Engadine, eastern Swiss Alps.Geophysical measurements were carried out andmonitoring of ground temperature is now maintained

for the third year to study the physical processes con-trolling the interaction of permafrost with the envi-ronment at this sporadic permafrost site. The meas-urements of the near surface ground temperature areextended along altitudinal belts from the subalpinezone to the periglacial/subnival zone.

After completion of the PACE project the GiessenPACE group (Lorenz King) continues mountain per-mafrost research in the Mattertal, Valais, Swiss Alps.Temperature data from the borehole at Stockhornpla-teau (3410 m) near Zermatt, indicate a permafrostthickness of about 160 m, and an active layer thicknessof about 2 m. Coldest ground temperatures of -2.6°Cwere reached at a depth of 22.5 meters. Furtherground temperature measurements have been startedat the lower part of the discontinuous permafrost beltin the Gornergrat area above Zermatt. The data willcontribute to the project of Thomas Herz concerningthe influence of a coarse-grained debris cover onenergy transfer processes between atmosphere, lit-hosphere and ground temperatures in the alpineperiglacial belt. In late September 2001, the test areaGrächen-Seetalhorn was instrumented with a 30mborehole and a meteorological station.

Mountain permafrost investigations are also car-ried out in the neighbouring Turtmanntal, Valais,Switzerland by a research group of the Department ofGeography at the University of Bonn (Richard Dikau).This valley is characterized by a high density of rockglaciers at all stages of activity. A main objective of theproject is to assess the scale dependent significance ofrock glaciers to determine the sensitivity of highmountain geosystems to global environmental change.Through the combination of different approaches andmethods in various spatial and temporal scales, a ho-listic approach is planned to be achieved. A sedimentbudget for the catchment may support the hypothesisthat the rock glacier process was the dominant sedi-ment flux in alpine regions during the Holocene. Amonitoring programme was started in 1990 with thefollowing objectives:Reconstructing past and present permafrost distribu-

tion (Dikau, Nyenhuis, von Witsch)Rock glacier distribution (Nyenhuis), geophysical

methods (Nyenhuis, Pfeffer)Rock glacier movement rates applying remote sens-

ing and terrestrial surveying (Roer, von Elverfeldt)Rock glacier movement pattern modelling by process

based models (Hoffmann)Bioindication of rock glacier systems (Roer)Periglacial system components and their coupling/

decoupling with the glacial situation (Otto),Quantifying sediment storages (Knopp, Nyenhuis)Surface analysis by remote sensing (Schreiner) and morphometric landscape analyses (Rasemann).

Lorenz King (Lorenz.King@geogr.uni-giessen.de)

Test field at the biological station Samoylov Island.Photo: Hans W. Hubberten.

27Frozen Ground

JapanThe wildfire research experiments named Frostfire(Alaska) and Icefire (Siberia) were safely and success-fully completed in the summer of 1999 and 2001. Theresearch group from Japan was based in HokkaidoUniversity (M. Fukuda). Extensive pre-burn surveysthroughout the watersheds and extensive instrumen-tation installed before the fire enabled us to collectdata before, during, and after the burn. The three-year(1999-2001) research projects have highlighted the im-pact of fire on the permafrost and the dynamics of thephysical properties after the fire. Many of these resultswere presented in the 2000 American GeophysicalUnion fall meeting and at the 2001 Russia/Japan jointsymposium for climatic warming in Sapporo.

The Yukon energy and water exchange research group(YuWEX Leader: N. Ishikawa) has studied in the Cari-bou Poker Creeks Research Watershed, Alaska since1997 in cooperation with L. Hinzman and K. Yoshikawa.They have performed a variety of field observations andmeasurements in the watershed including soil moisturecontent, soil temperature, evaporation, humidity, airtemperature, CO2 flux, stream temperature, geophysicalexploration, groundwater level, groundwater tempera-ture in the talik, and snow depth.

Surface energy balance studies were conducted inKevo, Finland (Nagaoka Institute of Snow and IceStudies, National Research Institute for Earth Scienceand Disaster Prevention (NIED) group (leader: A. Satoand T.Sato in cooperation with S. Neuvonen)), Tiksi(GAME: Y.Kodama) and CPCRW (YuWeX, NIEDgroup; leader: A. Sato and T.Sato in cooperation withS. Neuvonen); Tiksi (GAME: Y.Kodama); and CPCRW(YuWeX, NIED). All of these sites have a meteorologi-cal observation tower with ground temperature andsoil moisture sensors in the active layer.

The Mountain Permafrost Research Group in theAssociation of Japanese Geographers continued stud-ies on permafrost distribution, rock glacier character-istics and periglacial processes in the Japanese moun-tains including Hokkaido (M. Ishikawa, Y. Sawada, T.Sone and K. Hirakawa), northern Japanese Alps (K.Fukui, M. Aoyama and S. Iwata), southern JapaneseAlps and Fuji volcano (A. Ikeda and N. Matsuoka).The four-year (1998-2002) research projects have high-lighted several types of permafrost distribution in theJapanese mountains, which are controlled by land-forms, snow distribution and depth, geothermal ac-tivity and surface materials. Since 1994, members ofthe research group have also conducted an overseasproject on permafrost and periglacial processes in theSwiss Alps in cooperation with W. Haeberli, A. Kääband F. Keller. The topics in the last two years includeddynamics of small pebbly rock glaciers, differentialfrost heaving on sorted patterned ground and Holoceneenvironmental change on mountain slopes. Many ofthese results were presented in the 1st European Per-mafrost Conference in Rome (March 2001) and at the5th International Conference on Geomorphology inTokyo (August 2001).

Kenji Yoshikawa (ffky@uaf.edu)Norikazu Matsuoka (matsuoka@atm.geo.tsukuba.ac.jp)

KazakhstanThe Kazakhstan Alpine Permafrost Laboratory of thePermafrost Institute SD, RAS continued monitoringof the thermal regime of the permafrost and the depthof seasonal freezing ground in the northern Tien Shan(basin of river Bolshaya Almatinka, Transili AlatauRidge). This monitoring were extended during 2001when more automatical stations were started. Thelaboratory continues to carry out measurements ofthe dynamics of the active rock glacier of the Goro-detsky’s glacier, including solifluction processes andkurums.

An estimation of the underground/permafrost icevolume of the northern Tien Shan was carried out as afirst attempt for the mountains of Central Asia. It wasdetermined that the volume of permafrost ice is thesame as the volume of the glaciers. There is the ten-

Drilling operations at Stockhornplateau. Photo: Thomas Herz

28 Frozen Ground

dency for a faster degradation of glacier ice comparedto the permafrost ice in this area. The laboratory alsocontinues to carry out expeditional investigations ofthe influence of the construction of a highway on al-pine permafrost hear the Kolalmaty Pass, TrausiliAlatau Ridge.

The digital geocryological map of Burenkhaan Area(Mongolia) was compiled by S. S. Marchenko in coop-eration with Mongolian scientists. The book entitled´Mudflows near Almaty- Looking at the Past´, waspublished in Kazakhstan in 2001. It includes dates ofmudflow activity during the last 300 years and infor-mation on alpine permafrost and underground ice inthe Transili Alatau Ridge, northern Tin Shan. A.P.

A.P. Gorbunov (permafrost@astel.kz)

MongoliaSee Symposium Report p. 6-11

NorwayThe Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) has con-tinued the research project ‘Arctic oil spills on Russianpermafrost soils’ which is a co-operation project be-tween NGI, Moscow State University and the EarthCryosphere Institute. Fieldwork with experimentaloil spills is carried out at Cape Balvanskij, Nenets,Northwest Russia, where the Earth Cryosphere Insti-tute started investigations of permafrost in 1983.Laboratory tests are performed at Moscow State Uni-versity and at the Earth Cryosphere Institute. NGI alsoruns another research programme entitled ‘Perma-frost response to industrial and environmental loads’.The programme was initiated in 1999 and will con-tinue until 2003. This year’s work was focused onfieldwork in Longyearbyen and Svea, Svalbard, andon laboratory work in Oslo (www.ngi.no/SIP/SIP7/index.htm).

The University Courses on Svalbard (UNIS), De-partment of Arctic Technology (www.unis.no) runseight courses on undergraduate and graduate level.The programme offered at UNIS is unique as thecourses have the advantage of being given in an Arcticenvironment where technology has been applied fordecades. Investigations on geomorphic activity, bed-rock weathering rates and rock glacier dynamics arecontinued by Ole Humlum (UNIS), Department ofGeology. Research on bedrock weathering in cold cli-mate has been initiated by Angelique Prick (Belgium).Humlum has continued measurements of precipita-tion and temperature (air, ground surface and withinthe active layer). Two meteorological stations are es-tablished, one of these at the PACE borehole onJanssonhaugen. A precipitation sampling scheme (ini-tiated in 1999) has been continued. In addition, threeautomatic cameras are providing daily visual infor-mation on geomorphic phenomena. A CALM site wasestablished in 2000 was by Mette Oht (UNIS). A newCALM site has been established near Ny Ålesund(79ºN) by Ole Humlum in 2001. Investigations on ice-wedge development, dynamics and oxygen isotopestratigraphy in Adventdalen was continued by Jon W.Jeppesen (UNIS). In the Operafjellet area, a short dis-tance north of Adventdalen, investigations on the evo-lution of an ice-cored glacier was continued by SisseKorsgaard (UNIS).

In 1996 the Norwegian coal mining company, StoreNorske, asked permafrost scientists on Svalbard if itwas possible to construct and operate a road on theHöganäs glacier, for access to a new mine. The glacieris located outside the mining community Svea. No lit-erature or documented experiences on similar projectsexisted, and a feasibility study was initiated early in1997, focussing on issues related to glaciology androad construction methodology on sensitive frozenterrain. Field investigations and road design went onuntil construction started in 1999, and the 3-km longroad was ready and in operation from early 2000.

The road is placed on pure glacier ice on the centralmoraine ridge of the Höganäs glacier. Substantial gla-cier ablation cause an increasing height difference be-

Evgeny Chuvilin, Moscow State University (right) and ArneInstanes,UNIS and NGI (left) and thousands of mosquitos during fieldwork on the tundra near Cape Balvanskij (Russia).

The new road on the Höganäs glacier. Photo: Truls Mølmann.

29Frozen Ground

tween the road grade and the glacier, and the sideslopes become unstable. Since construction, road mo-difications have been made to cope with drainage anderosion problems. Smaller channels are seasonally ac-tive and runoff usually is high because there is no infil-tration. It is impossible to place culverts to convey thesurface runoff across the embankment and seepagethrough the fill is inevitable. The costs of operationand maintenance are relatively high, especially forerosion control. The annual road maintenance cost iswell within the limit for a profitable coal mining op-eration at 78ºN.

The Department of Physical Geography, Universityof Oslo (www.geografi.uio.no), arranged a two-weekfield course for doctoral students on permafrostmapping in Jotunheimen and on Dovrefjell, southernNorway, in August. The Nordic Council (NorFA) fi-nanced course was conducted by J. L. Sollid and B.Etzelmüller. Teachers and students from all Nordiccountries participated. The department has estab-lished a field station at Hjerkinn, Dovrefjell, in south-ern Norway, for permafrost studies. In October J. L.Sollid and K. Isaksen, in co-operation with the Norwe-gian Geological Survey (NGU), drilled 11 boreholes, 9m deep. All boreholes are instrumented with tempera-ture dataloggers. A CALM site will be established thereas well. Permafrost mapping (BTS measurments, DCresistivity soundings, seismic surveys) was carried outin eastern parts of southern Norway (E. Heggem). OnSvalbard, T. Eiken and K. Isaksen continued studiesof rock glaciers in the Nordenskiöldland area, and K.Isaksen collected borehole temperature data from theJanssonhaugen PACE borehole.

Kaare Flaate (kflaate@online.no)

PolandResearch on permafrost and periglacial phenomena iscarried out on Spitsbergen, Svalbard in the Arctic andat the H. Arctowski Polar Station on King George Is-land in the Western Antarctica and in the alpine zoneof the Tatra Mountains in Poland.

The geomorphological studies in Poland focus onrelief evolution and deposits formed in the periglacialconditions of the Pleistocene. Research in polar areasfocuses on thermal conditions and dynamics of thedevelopment of permafrost and active layer;periglacial processes (weathering, mass movement,the development of frost forms and structures);hydrological regime; frost heave and cryochemicalprocesses and their role in shaping the polar geoeco-systems; ecological effects of climate changes and an-thropogenic effects in periglacial ecosystems. Theprogrammes are carried out by expeditions organisedby the Polish Academy of Sciences (Department ofAntarctic Biology, Institute of Geophysics) and the

Silesian University in Sosnowiec, the Adam Mickie-wicz University in Poznan, the Mikolaj Kopernik Uni-versity in Torun and the Maria Curie-SklodowskaUniversity in Lublin. Research is mainly performedon Svalbard in the Polish Polar Station in Hornsundand at university stations on the western coast ofSpitsbergen.

Monitoring of the active layer in the Calypso-stranda area continues. Research is done by JaninaRepelewska-Pekalowa, Department of Geomor-phology, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin.It begun in 1986 and is now part of the CALM pro-gramme. Since 2000 it has been part of a project enti-tled ‘Functioning of periglacial geoecosystems underthe influence of climate changes and anthropo-pression’. The project is financed by the Science Re-search Committee.

Results of the research on periglacial phenomenaare presented at conferences organised by the Com-mittee on Polar Research, the Polar Club of the PolishGeographical Society, and the Associations of PolishGeomorphologists. They are also published in severalperiodicals: Polish Polar Research and Studies andLandform Analysis. The Biuletyn Peryglacjalny No 38(by Societatis Scientiarum Lodziensis) included paperspresented at the Lódz Symposium on ‘Periglacial En-vironments, Past, Present and Future’, to celebrate 50years of periglacial research under the aegis of the In-ternational Geographical Union.

Kazimierz Pekala (geomorf @ biotop. umcs. lublin. pl)

RussiaThe Fourth International Circumpolar Arctic Vegeta-tion Mapping (CAVM) Workshop was held in Mos-cow, 10-12 April 2001. The leader of the CAVM projectis Skip Walker, University of Alaska. The workshopwas organised and hosted by Evgeny Melnikov,Natalia Moskalenko and the Earth Cryoshere Insti-tute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch.Twenty-eight participants from Germany, Iceland,Russia, and the United States took part in this meeting.The focus was on presentation of integrated vegeta-tion maps for Alaska, Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Ice-land, Svalbard, and Russia; presentation of vegetationlegends; development of a plan for the final map syn-thesis (June, 2002); and possibilities for publication.Soils, surficial and bedrock geology, and percent wa-ter cover were considered in preparing the map.

The International Symposium on Conservation andTransformation of Matter and Energy in EarthCryoshere was held on 1-4 June 2001, in Pushchino.Approximately 160 scientists from Canada, France,Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and theUnited States and others attended the symposium.Russian participants represented 35 different organi-

30 Frozen Ground

zations (both academic and industry) from 20 cities.The symposium consisted of seven sessions:1) Modern microscopic methods for studying micro-

organisms in permafrost as well as their bio-diver-sity, metabolic activity at low temperatures, and in-teraction with unfrozen water;

2) Formation and dynamics of gas hydrates and natu-ral gases including the metastable status of gashydrates, conditions of formation and evolution ofhydrates in ice covers, experimental study of theformation of hydrates of natural gases in the dis-persing deposits, and methods of determiningphysical properties of ground changes due to hy-drate formation;

3) Physical and chemical bases of behavior of matter inheterogeneous media;

4) The value of experimental and natural data in ourunderstanding of processes of heat and mass trans-fer in active layers including the existence ofsubaerial taliks;

5) Influence of cryogenic processes on morphologyand properties of modern soils of tundra and taigazones;

6) Interaction of various artificial buildings with per-mafrost, and the pollution of the environment bypetroleum and radionuclides;

7) Exchange of matter and energy between land andocean in the Arctic areas.

The Second Russian Conference on Geocryology washeld on 6-8 June 2001, at the Lomonosov Moscow StateUniversity. The conference attracted 284 participantsfrom 58 scientific, educational and industrial organi-zations across Russia, and scientists from Canada,France, Germany, Japan and the United States. A widerange of problems of modern geocryology was dis-cussed on five sessions:1) Physicochemistry and mechanics of frozen ground:

Among the reports presented were specific topicsdevoted to the investigation of a genetic nature ofdurability, new methods of determination of themechanical characteristics of frozen grounds, gas-hydrate-containing deposits, and the determina-tion of heat conductivity of large volumes of frozengrounds.

2) Lithogenetic geocryology: Among the reports pre-sented were specific topics on the composition andthe structure of cryolithogenic and frozen ground,and the genesis of massive ice sheets of the Arcticcryo-lithozone.

3) Dynamic geocryology: Of 28 reports most attentionwas given to modern and past, long- and short-term fluctuations of climate and various methodsfor forecasting these phenomena.

4) Regional and historical geocryology: The 35 reportswere divided into two groups of presentations; ac-tual conditions and theoretical generalisations.

5) Engineering geocryology: the 25 reports coveredtopics of management of permafrost conditions indeveloped territories; safety of natural-technicalsystems; ecology and protection of the environ-ment; new ways in the building on frozen grounds;new building technologies.

A total of 186 reports were submitted, and 103 of thesewere presented. The conference concluded that thefollowing problems are most urgent in geocryology:1. Development of the physicochemical theory of

mass transfer in the frozen, freezing and thawinggrounds, and the development of appropriatemathematical models;

2. Investigation of mass exchange properties of frozengrounds and the electrokinetic phenomena in fre-ezing and frozen grounds;

3. Development of techniques for the determinationand study of physicomechanical properties of fro-zen macrogeoterogenic and detritus grounds;

4. Development of ecologically safe physicochemicalmethods for the stabilization of frozen ground inorder to prevent undesirable exogenous processesand to strengthen foundations;

5. Improvement of methods for palaeo-reconstructionof temperatures of the ground surface and thick-ness of cryolithozone;

6.Study of interrelations between climate warmingand development of destructive processes in cryo-lithozone;

7. Development of the scientific bases for new con-struction methods on the frozen grounds;

8. Improvement of engineering protection for the en-vironment and buildings from destructivegeocryological processes;

9. Development of the legal regulations of the com-plex approach to the development of the North andto the creation of a system of ecological safety.

The Conference on the Results of GeocryologicalResearch in Yakutia and Prospects of their FurtherDevelopment was held 9-11 October 2001, in Yakutsk.This conference was organised by the Permafrost In-stitute of the Siberian Branch, Russian Academy ofSciences, and the Permafrost Department of theYakutsk State University (R. M. Kamensky, chair of theorganizing committee; A. N. Kurchatova, secretary).Post-graduate students of the Institute and the De-partment were active participants. Of the 69 submit-ted reports, 50 were presented (five plenary and 45 insections). The plenary reports were devoted to sum-marizing studies of: thermal fields in cryolithozone ofYakutia (V. T. Balobaev); geocryological investiga-tions (V. V. Kunitsky); physico-chemical processes onthe migration of elements in the frozen grounds (V. I.Fedoseeva); engineering geocryology (R. M.Kamensky); and mountain geocryology (Batutin,S.A.).

31Frozen Ground

The reports were presented in the following five ses-sions:1. General and regional geocryology, geocryology and

hydrogeology of cryolitozone (co-chairs: V. V.Shepelev and V. V. Kunitsky);

2. Geothermal, thermophysical, geophysical and heatbalance researches (co-chairs: V. Y. Balobaev and M.N. Zheleznyak);

3. Geoecological research and problems of rationalmanagement of the cryolithozone (co-chairs: V. N.Makarov and M. M. Shats);

4. Engineering-geocryological problems of buildingsand engineering structures on the permafrost (co-chairs: A,. N. Tseeva and R. V. Chzhan);

5. Development of deposits of minerals in the cryo-lithozone (co-chairs: S. A. Batugin and G. P.Kuzmin).

Over the past three years, integrated cryolithologi-cal-isotopic investigations were undertaken at sites onthe Yugorsky, Yamal and Chukotka peninsulas withinthe framework of the INTAS project. Analyses of iso-topes, macro- and micro-elements, and ice petrogra-phy are leading to publications on the reconstructionof the origin of tabular ground ice. Six teams from Rus-sian and European institutes participated in the fieldand laboratory investigations: Alfred Wegener Insti-tute for Polar and Marine Research-Potsdam (H.-W.Hubberten); Earth Cryosphere Institute (M. O.Leibman, A. A. Vasiliev); Lomonosov Moscow StateUniversity (I. D. Streletskaya); Shirshov’s Institute ofOceanology (A. Yu. Lein); VNIIO kean-geologia (B. G.Vanshtein); and the Earth Science Center, GothenborgUniversity, Sweden (O. Ingolfsson and H. Lokranz).

The Melnikov Permafrost Institute published fourbooks on permafrost engineering in 2001 in Russian:- V. V. Torgashev. Piles in Conditions of High-tempera-

ture Frozen Grounds;- I. E. Gurianov. Beginning of Permafrost Engineering;- G. P. Kuzmin. Underground Structures in the Perma-

frost Area;- V. I. Makarov et al. City Norilsk (Experience of Con-

struction)The Pushchino conference in 2002 is planned to be heldon 12-15 May in honor of the 70th birthday of EvgenyMelnikov.

David Gilichinsky (gilichin@issp.serpukhov.su)

SpainThe Spanish IPA group held a three-day workshop atPotes (Cantabrian Mountains), 27-29 June 2001. Theworkshop was organised by the Department of Geog-raphy, University of Valladolid, co-sponsored by theCastilla y León Regional Government, the NationalPark of Picos de Europa and the Spanish Geomor-

phological Society. On the first day the workshop sub-ject was mountain periglacial environments, while onthe second day a field trip across the high mountain inPicos de Europa visited an oceanic high mountainperiglacial environment, and finally, the last day wasdevoted to the periglacial environment at high lati-tudes. Daniel Vonder Mühll delivered the openinglecture entitled Mountain Permafrost in Europe: anoverview based on the PACE project. The meeting hadtwenty nine participants from Norway, Portugal,Spain, and Switzerland.

Twenty talks were presented emphasizing Quater-nary periglacial environments in the Iberian Moun-tains, principally in the northern mountains and Cen-tral System, and modern periglacial environmentsand processes in the Iberian Mountains and in the Arc-tic and Antarctic. The topics include the presence anddistribution of permafrost in the Pyrenees and in theSierra Nevada; and nival and mass movements relatedto periglacial proccesses in the Central System (Gredos,Guadarrama and La Estrelha); and application of newtechniques to study periglacial processes such as per-mafrost modelling and BTS and ground temperaturesmeasurements at Sierra Nevada, La Estrelha and Pyr-enees. Permafrost, active-layer dynamics and slopeprocesses, linked to geomorphological mapping inperiglacial environments in the Arctic and at the SouthShetland Islands (Antarctic) by Spanish, Portugueseand Norwegian researchers, were the mains topics onhigh latitudes. A booklet containing summaries of the

Participants of the Spanish IPA group during the workshop at Picode Europa. Photo: Augusto P. Alberti.

Nivation hollow in the Central Mountains of Spain, Guadarrama.Site studied by David Palacios. Photo: Hanne H. Christiansen.

32 Frozen Ground

presentations was available and a formal publicationis in preparation. Two workshop topics were high-lighted. First, the differences between oceanic andmediterranean mountains in the Iberian Península,with a particular emphasis on dynamic of the mediter-ranean high mountain and a strong importance ofnival processes in the mountains of central Spain(Cantabrian Ranges and Central System). Second, theuse of advanced technologies in periglacial environ-ment and the participation of the IPA Spanish groupmembers on Arctic and Antarctic research groups.

The Spanish IPA group will meet next in the GredosRange in June 2003, organised by the Department ofGeodynamics of the Universidad Complutense deMadrid. Before then Spanish periglacial geomor-phologists will meet at the Symposium on MountainGeomorphology in the VII National Meeting of theSpanish Geomorphological Society, 19-20 September2002 at Valladolid.

Enrique Serrano (serranoe@fyl.uva.es)David Palacios (davipd@eucmax.sim.ucm.es)

SwedenThe main IPA related research activities in Swedenduring this reporting period were those under thePACE project which is reported elsewhere. Other uni-versities have additional projects dealing with perma-frost in alpine, arctic and antarctic environments.

The Department of Earth Sciences, Physical Geog-raphy, Uppsala University carries out cold climate re-search concerning landforms, processes and dynam-ics, and their relationship to environmental condi-tions in the past and present. Else Kolstrup has set up aresearch programme on boundary constraints of geo-morphological forms and processes in past andpresent periglacial environments. Subprojects in-clude studies of boundary constraints of thermalcontraction cracking and a research student, FriedaZuidhoff, works with a subproject on palsa dynamicsin Lapland. Further, investigation of ‘stone growth’in a boreal environment with winter frost is under-way. Relict periglacial forms are being investigated informerly periglaciated areas in Europe.

Phil Wookey, Else Kolstrup and Göran Possnert areconducting a Swedish Natural Science ResearchCouncil (NFR) funded project: Climate change, soilorganic matter lability and decomposer metabolismin high latitude soils, with fieldwork in northern Ice-land. Wookey is also participating in an EU project:Dynamic response of the forest-tundra ecotone to en-vironmental change (DART). As a component of thisproject, research student, Sofie Sjögersten is investi-gating soil processes and trace gas fluxes in relation totree-line dynamics in Fennoscandia. Phil Wookey re-mains chair of the International Tundra Experiment

(ITEX). Jan Boelhouwers, recently moved from SouthAfrica to Uppsala, has completed a five-year projecton past and present periglacial processes on theSubantarctic Marion Island. A new proposal has beensubmitted to continue the Subantarctic work, while aseparate project aims to expand the study on environ-mental controls on solifluction and frost heave to sea-sonal frost and discontinuous permafrost areasin Lapland. Achim A. Beylich, funded by the postdoctoral programme of Deutscher AkademischerAustauschdienst (DAAD) carries out process geo-morphological research within the project ‘Recentsediment budget and relief development in Latnjavagge,Swedish Lapland’. This project is combined with the inter-disciplinary NFR-project ‘Tundra landscape dynamics’.It is in cooperation with Else Kolstrup, ChristerJonasson (Abisko Scientific Research Station), UlfMolau (Botanical Institute, Göteborg University),Johan Kling (Swedish Environmental ProtectionAgency), and Laust Pedersen (Uppsala University).Financial support is from the DAAD, the Royal Swed-ish Academy of Sciences, NFR, and Uppsala Univer-sity.

At the Department of Physical Geography, LundUniversity, no major projects dealing with permafrosthave received funding for the last four years and onlyminor activities have been continued through privatefunding initiatives and through basic departmentalfunds and staff input. Prof. emeritus J.O. Mattssoncontinue editing the Geografiska Annaler from Lund.Active projects are;- Abisko area active layer transect. In co-operation

with The Abisko Research Station J. Åkerman ismaintaining the CALM sites along the east-westtransect in the Abisko area. The ten active layer siteshave now been monitored since 1978, and annual ba-sic data is presented within the CALM reporting sys-tem.

- Active periglacial procesess and their climatic signifi-cance in the Kapp Linne’ area, Svalbard. J. Åkerman ismaintaining a limited monitoring programme of theprocesses and the climate within this area, with an an-nual visit.

- Active layer monitoring in the Kapp Linne’ area,Svalbard. This monitoring programme, which startedin 1972, is still maintained and now within the CALMnetwork. It is run in cooperation with UNIS, OleHumlum.

- Vegetation mapping over the Kapp Linne’ area,Svalbard. A MSc study by T. Josefsson and I. Mar-tensson supervised by J. Åkerman is in its finalsstages of reporting.

- A digital elevation model with analyses of the verticaland horizontal distribution of vegetation and geomor-phological forms and processes in the Kapp Linne’area, Svalbard. A MSc study supervised by J. Åkermanwas finished in 1998 and awaits publication.

33Frozen Ground

Rolf Nyberg of the Department of Earth Sciences,University of Karlstad is maintaining serveral projectsin the Abisko area. One involves dynamics of theKårsa glacier and one on permafrost and slope proc-esses in the Pallenvagge and Nissunvagge valleys, as-sessing the importance of extreme erosional events asgeomorphological hazards and as climatic indicatorsin the Abisko area.

Jonas Åkerman (jonas.akerman@natgeo.lu.se)

Switzerland

The ‘Permafrost Monitoring Switzerland (PERMOS)’ isin the first of three years of the pilot phase. Activitiescomprise temperature measurements at ten drill sites,BTS-surveys to determine permafrost distributionpatterns in ten areas, and organising aerial photo-graphs to document surface characteristics, allowingfor later photogrammetrical studies. The followinginstitutes are responsible for the field surveys: Univer-sities of Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne and Zurich, SwissFederal Institute of Technology (ETH) and the SwissFederal Institute of Snow and Avalanche Research(SFISAR, Davos). The network is sponsored by theSwiss Academy of Sciences, the Swiss Forest Agencyand the Federal Office for Water and Geology. Annualreports are published by the Swiss Glaciological Com-mission.

The PACE project with the two Swiss partners (Uni-versity of Zurich: Wilfried Haeberli, Martin Hoelzle,Catherine Mittaz; and VAW-ETH Zurich: DanielVonder Mühll, Christian Hauck) has come to an end.Christian Hauck finished in spring his Ph.D. thesisentitled ‘Geophysical methods for detecting perma-frost in high mountains’. Collection of borehole tem-perature data and meteorological data from climatestations are continued at Murtèl, Schilthorn andZermatt within the national PERMOS-network.

At ETH Zurich the ETH-Mini-Poly project of thethree institutes Geotechnics (IGT: Sarah Springman,Lukas Arenson), Geophysics (Hansruedi Maurer,Martin Musil), and VAW (Daniel Vonder Mühll) hasreached its third and final year. Both doctoral thesesby Arenson and Musil are in their final stages, whichmeans that the collected data are being processed.The triaxial creep tests, which are mainly performedwith cores from the recent drillings at the Murtèl-Corvatsch rock glacier, show the expected, exponen-tial influence of the stresses on the creep rates. How-ever, one of the most surprising observations of thecurrent field measurements was the presence of waterwithin the rock glacier. It seems as if the cavities withinthe frozen body allow water to leak through the sys-tem. Not only does the water reduce the strength of thematerial, it is also an additional heat flux, which mustbe taken into account. Detailed information about the

deformation within the rock glacier is expected fromthe new measurement system (time domain reflec-tometry), which was installed at the Murtèl-Corvatschsite. Until now, the deformation is not large enough toshow a signal, but for the future, the system is verypromising. A modelling work regarding the dynamicsof rock glaciers arose from the ETH-Mini-Poly project(Hilmar Gudmundsson, Gwendolyn Leysinger). Anumerical model has been developed describing theadvance and retreat of a gravity driven creeping vis-cous medium, which is used to investigate the flowfield close to the rock glacier terminus.

The Glaciology and Geomorphodynamics Group atUniversity of Zurich is working on the followingprojects: ‘Permafrost distribution modelling based onenergy-balance data’ (Catherine Mittaz, MartinHoelzle); ‘GIS-based modelling of creeping mountainpermafrost’ (Regula Frauenfelder); ‘Analysis andspatial modelling of permafrost distribution in cold-mountain areas by integration of advanced remotesensing technology’ (Stephan Gruber); ‘Investigationof perennial ice patches’ (K. Schulz, R. Frauenfelder);and ‘Analyses of permafrost creep using digital pho-togrammetry’ (Andraes Kääb). Markus Lerjen finishedhis MSc. thesis on ‘Frozen talus slopes’, and SonjaOswald finished a MSc. on ‘Relation between perma-frost and debris flows in the Valais Alps’. Research re-sults were presented at the 1st European PermafrostConference in Rome, March 2001 and at the 5th Confer-ence on Geomorphology in Tokyo, August 2001. Tem-perature conditions in steep rock slopes, especially asrelated to instability problems in warm and degradingpermafrost, are being parameterised by combinedsingle-channel temperature datalogger measure-ments and spatial modelling (Wilfried Haeberli,Stephan Gruber, Jeannette Nötzli and Marco Peter).

The Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and AvalancheResearch (SLF) is continuing to investigate snow-sup-porting structures in permafrost terrain by monitor-ing ground temperatures and slope movements atthree high altitude permafrost sites equipped with

Snow-nets retaining rocks in summer. In winter the nets prevent thetriggering of avalanches. Photo: Marcia Philips.

34 Frozen Ground

avalanche defence structures. The aim of the project,which started in 1996, is to determine whether snow-supporting structures modify the thermal regime ofthe ground and whether slope stability is affected. Dif-ferent types of structures and foundations are beingtested for their efficiency on steep slopes in unstable,frozen sediments. Federal guidelines for the construc-tion of snow-supporting structures in permafrost ter-rain were published by SLF in 2000 and used for cur-rent building sites. The project is supported by theSwiss cantons Valais and Graubünden.

The Institutes of Geography, Universities ofLausanne (Christophe Lambiel, Emmanuel Reynard)and Fribourg (Reynald Delaloye, A. Turatti) havefocused on four types of sites: glacier forefields, rockglaciers, talus slopes and low altitude places. Investi-gations are performed by applying geoelectrics andsurface thermal methods at various sites. Glacierforefields are studied in particular in the Verbier areain collaboration with the Institute of Geophysics at theUniversity of Lausanne (L. Baron, R. Monnet, and L.Marescot). A joint project between the Institutes ofGeography of Fribourg and Lausanne, the UniversityInstitute Kurt Bösch at Sion (Ralph Lugon) and theDepartment of Geography at the University of Val-ladolid, Spain (Enrique Serrano) aims at understand-ing the glacier/permafrost relationships in the LittleIce Age moraines systems in the Posets Massif, Cen-tral Pyrenneas (Spain).

Several projects related to permafrost are in thephase of implementation, which is guided by theAcademia Engadina (Felix Keller). At Pontresina acombined avalanche – debris flow dam is being con-structed to protect the village against natural hazards.The University of Bern (Group for Applied Geomor-phology, Dragan Mihajlovic) continued the studies onradiation- and energy balance at Fruggentälti/Gemmi.

Daniel Vonder Mühll(Daniel.VonderMuehll@unibas.ch)

United KingdomJulian Murton (University of Sussex) and MarkBateman (University of Sheffield) initiated a projecton sand-sheet development in the TuktoyaktukCoastlands, Western Canadian Arctic, in July 2001,and funded by the Royal Society. The project is deter-mining the temporal relationships between sand-sheet formation and known changes of climate, ac-tive-layer depth, vegetation and glaciation, in order toestablish the natural controls on and timing of aeoliansand-sheet development during the last glacial-inter-glacial cycle in the Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands. Sampleswere collected for luminescence and radiocarbon dat-ing, and stratigraphic and sedimentological observa-

tions were recorded. Interestingly, multiple levels ofsand veins and wedges were observed in the sandsheets, the highest syngenetic wedges recordedwithin the Kittigazuit Formation on Richards Islandexceeded 9 m. Future work seeks to clarify the com-plex stratigraphic relationships between sand-sheet,sand-dune and glacigenic deposits along the northerncoast of Liverpool Bay, beyond the mapped limit ofWisconsinan glaciation.

Charles Harris (University of Cardiff) and MichaelDavies (University of Dundee), in collaboration withJohan Ludvig Sollid (University of Oslo) established aprocess monitoring station at Steinhoi, Dovrefjell,Norway in July 2001, funded by the British NaturalEnvironment Research Council. A steel frame was in-

stalled on which is mounted a pair of Linear VoltageDisplacement Transducers (LVDTs), to record groundsurface movements (heave/settlement and downslope displacement). Thermistor strings and Druckminiature pore water pressure transducers were alsodeployed to monitor seasonal ground freezing andthawing, and associated pore water pressure varia-tions. Data is recorded by a Campbell logger that islinked to Cardiff and Dundee via a mobile phone,making it possible to interrogate the station on a dailybasis. Rudberg columns were also installed for long-term measurement of displacement profiles. The aimis to generate field data for validation of recent labora-tory simulation studies.

The IPA web site continues to be maintained byJulia Branson at the Geodata Institute, University ofSouthampton UK and may be found at http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/ipa. Any queries should be e-mailed to j.branson@soton.ac.uk

Charles Harris (harrisc@cardiff.ac.uk)

United States of AmericaThe U.S. Permafrost Association (USPA) was officiallyestablished in 2001 to better enable U.S. scientists tocontribute to the International Permafrost Association

Linear Voltage Displacement Transducers at monitoring site atDovrefjell, Norway. Photo: Charles Harris.

35Frozen Ground

and to promote permafrost science and engineering inthe U.S. The fledgling organisation currently servesabout 75 individual members, several corporate andinstitutional members. Activities during this first yearhave been primarily aimed at becoming firmly estab-lished as a legitimate non-profit organisation withclearly defined goals and by-laws. Larry Hinzmanand Rupert ‘Bucky’ Tart are serving as interim officersuntil the first elections are completed in early 2002.The new organisation met at the Annual AGU Fallmeeting in San Francisco in December. A web page isunder construction with links to other national and in-ternational organizations (http://www. usperma-frost.org/). University of Alaska President MarkHamilton officially invited the IPA to convene theNinth International Conference on Permafrost in 2008in Fairbanks.

Numerous permafrost related research efforts arecurrently active in the Alaskan Arctic and Subarcticand in the Russian Arctic. The U.S. National ScienceFoundation Arctic System Science (ARCSS) pro-gramme (http://www. nsf. gov/od /opp /arctic/system.htm) supports several projects that examinepermafrost dynamics and influence on ecosystem proc-esses and their response to climatic variability:ATLAS (http://www. laii. uaf. edu /projects.htm#atlas)ITEX (http://www. systbot. gu. se/research/itex/itex.html )CALM (http://www. geography.uc.edu/~ kenhinke/CALM/) and RAISE programmes (http://www.raise. uaf.edu/). A series of ATLAS and RAISE meet-ings were held in Salt Lake City in November to re-view progress and develop future plans. Additionalinformation on these programmes and individualprojects is available through the web addresses.

News from individual projects include the follow-ing highlights:

Several NSF-sponsored, active-layer projects led byKen Hinkel and Frederick Nelson continued in north-ern Alaska and included observations on the influ-ence of enhanced snow accumulation on seasonalthaw and the deployment of 60 air-soil temperaturedataloggers in the Barrow peninsula to assess the ex-tent of the urban heat island. Wendy Eisner, KenHinkel, Jim Bockheim and others conducted a pro-gramme of intensive spring coring and a ground-pen-etrating radar (GPR) survey of drained thaw-lake ba-sins near Barrow. A project sponsored by the Interna-tional Arctic Research Center (IARC) at Barrow andcoordinated by Jerry Brown resulted in installationof new thermistor cables by Kenji Yoshikawa andVladimir Romanovsky in several boreholes. Theboreholes were originally instrumented and observedduring the 1950s and early 1960s by Max Brewer. Withthe assistance of the Barrow Arctic Science Consor-tium (BASC) a key coastal site was established alongElson Lagoon as part of the Arctic Coastal Dynamic(ACD) programme.

The extensive thermokarst features near Council onthe Seward Peninsula are being studied by LarryHinzman, Douglas Kane and Kenji Yoshikawa. Theseinvestigations relate changes in hydrologic proces-ses and permafrost to climatic dynamics, and seek todevelop better prognostic tools for predicting futurehydrological responses. Initial results indicate thatunder a warming climate, the thermokarst ponds willdrain as permafrost degrades.

Gary Clow, USGS, revisited the climate-monitoringstations in the northern Alaska and installed severalnew stations. There are now nine stations monitoringactive layer temperatures, air temperatures, snowdepth, and solar radiation all with Campbell data-log-gers. Two deep drill holes were relogged, East Teshe-puk and North Inigok, and both showed a very signifi-cant warming during the 1990s.

Tim Collett, USGS, reports that as a continuation ofthe 1998 Mallik 2L-38 gas hydrate research-drilling ef-fort, activities are underway to reoccupy the Malliksite in the Canadian Mackenzie River Delta and drillthree additional gas hydrate research wells during the2001-2002 winter season (see Canadian report formore information).

Permafrost engineering activities are increasing as aresult of two major projects, which are taking place inAlaska. First, the Trans Alaska Pipeline right-of-way(ROW) must be renewed in 2004. The original ROWagreements were for a period of 30 years beginning in1974. This renewal will require the pipeline owners toparticipate in the preparation of an EnvironmentalImpact Statement (EIS). Many of Alyeska PipelineService Company’s long-time consultants will bebusy with this work; and the Bureau of Land Manage-ment has retained its own EIS consultant. The secondmajor effort in Alaska is the new gas pipeline studythat has been initiated by the Alaskan gas producers.This study should continue for 12 to 24 months and itis hoped that it will lead to the design and constructionof a gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Calgary or fur-ther south.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)and its Technical Council on Cold Regions Engineer-ing (TCCRE) remain active in promoting permafrostengineering research and knowledge. They continueto sponsor engineering representation to the US Per-mafrost Committee. TCCRE is in the final planningstages for the 11th International Conference on ColdRegions Engineering, which will be held in Anchor-age, Alaska, May 20-22, 2002. Over 130 abstracts havebeen submitted. For more information contact KellyMerrill (KMerrill@CH2M.com). TCCRE is also ac-tively pursuing updating several Cold Regions Engi-neering Monographs over the next several years. TedVinson is completing the report ‘Strategic Plan forCold Regions Engineering Research in the New Mil-lennium’, based on the NSF-sponsored, June 2000

36 Frozen Ground

conference.The American Society of Mechanical Engineers

(ASME) supports two technical areas that are of inter-est to cold regions engineers – the Heat Transfer Divi-sion has a K-18 Committee that focuses on low tem-perature heat transfer and is chaired by ZhouminZhang (zmzhang@ufl.edu), and the Ocean, Offshore,and Arctic Engineering Division (OOAE) sponsorsthe annual Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineer-ing (OMAE) conference. The conference scheduledfor 2002 will be held in Oslo, Norway, 23-28 June. In-formation on the conference can be found at http://www.omae.org.

Tingjun Zhang is leading the International ArcticResearch Center (IARC) funded Global Geocryologi-cal Database (GGD) project, a continuing task for theinternational permafrost community. GGD is based atthe National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colo-rado, and is coordinated with the IPA Standing Com-mittee on Data, Information and Communication. Anobjective of GGD is to establish a one-stop center fordissemination of frozen ground data and information.Version II of the CAPS CD-ROM Conference is underpreparation and will be available for the Zurich Con-ference in 2003. Organisations, institutions, and indi-viduals are encouraged to contribute frozen groundrelated data and information to GGD. For more infor-mation http://nsidc.org/frozen ground/.

The 25th Anniversary of the National Snow and IceData Center was honored by hosting a special sessionat the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California.The session is entitled ‘Monitoring an evolvingcryosphere’ and the moderators were Anne Nolin andTed Scambos. The session will focus upon the use ofcryospheric data sets and new monitoring and meas-urement techniques to investigate the earth’scryosphere, including floating ice, snow cover, gla-ciers, frozen ground, polar climate, and ice sheets.

A comprehensive river discharge database for theentire pan-Arctic drainage system, is now available(http://arcss.colorado.edu/Catalog/arcss062.html).This database covers the entire pan-Arctic drainagesystem, and is available on CD-ROM. The collectioncomprises data from 3713 gauges and containsmonthly river discharge data extending from the1890s (for four Canadian and five Russian gauges)through the early 1990s, but the majority of data wascollected between 1960 and 1990.

The NSF ARCSS programme requested members ofthe research community to assess the current statusand research priorities related to hydrological proc-esses in the Arctic Basin. In September 2000, thirty-three researchers active in studies related to arctic hy-drology met in a workshop in Santa Barbara to definethe most pressing research needs and formulate anapproach to address those needs. The resulting re-search strategy, including topics related to perma-

frost, has been published and is available via theinternet at (http://www.arcus.org/ARCSS/hydro/index.html) or from the Arctic Consortium of theUnited States (ARCUS).

The U. S. participation in the Global Terrestrial Net-work-Permafrost (GTN-P) programme was summa-rised in the August 2001 NOAA GCOS report to theConference of Parties to the United Nations Frame-work Convention on Climate Change. The report isavailable from http://www.eis.noaa.gov/gcos orcontact howard.diamond@noaa.gov.

Jerry Brown (jerrybrown@igc.org)Larry Hinzman (ffldh@uaf.edu)

Rupert ‘Bucky’ Tart(BTart@golder.com)

37Frozen Ground

IcelandOlafur Arnalds, Agricultural Research Institute, De-partment of Environmental Science, attended theThird International Conference on Cryopedolgy inCopenhagen, and expressed Iceland’s interest in be-coming a member of the IPA. A formal letter request-ing membership has since been received.

The most comprehensive permafrost related re-search in Iceland to date was done in the Thorsarverpalsa-area, south of Hofjökull in Central Iceland byThora Ellen Thorhallsdottir (Reykjavik University).The extent of this palsa area was surveyed in the sum-mer 2001 by the National Power Company. The Natu-ral Research Centre of northwest Iceland and the Agri-cultural Research Institute initiated a new research ef-fort this year in the Orravatnsrustir palsa area inNorth Iceland. Little is known about the extent of per-mafrost in Iceland, but a beginning of a new long-termeffort is scheduled for 2002.

The Agricultural Research Institute is investigatingcryoturbation of soils and the formation of hummocksin cooperation with Texas A&M University. A new soilmap of Iceland has recently been completed by theAgricultural Research Institute (see www.rala.is/desert).

Olafur Arnalds (ola@rala.is)

New ZealandSeveral New Zealand programmes were commencedor continued during the past year in the area of perma-frost and periglacial processes in both New Zealandand Antarctica. M. B. Scott, K. J. M. Dickinson, A. F.Mark, B. I. P. Barratt, B. J. Sinclair (University of Otago)initiated a study of the invertebrate diversity of three-types of alpine patterned ground on the Old ManRange of Central Otago. They are investigating howbiodiversity and distribution of invertebrates may bedictated by environmental variables extant insolifluction terraces, soil hummocks and soil stripes.They are also examining microhabitat temperaturedata to examine seasonal freeze-thaw events respon-sible for maintaining the patterned ground ground,and thus enable them to develop a better appreciationof the periglacial features and their indigenous biota.

Warren Dickinson (Victoria University of Welling-ton) is continuing his programme of shallow perma-frost drilling in the Dry Valley area of Antarctica. Shal-low permafrost drilling was commenced in Novem-ber 2000 and aims to recover a climate record fromAntarctic ground ice, which potentially holds a de-tailed record spanning 15 million years. The coredmaterial will be used to elucidate climate history fromthe geochemistry of the ground ice, as well as to pro-vide stratigraphic information.

David Nobes (University of Canterbury) is also

working in Antarctica with a project that involves test-ing the geophysical response of contaminants in soilsand permafrost near Scott Base. The aim of his work isto use near-surface geophysical methods to map thevertical and horizontal extent of contaminants in thesoil and permafrost.

Iain Campbell and Robert Gibb (Landcare Re-search) are developing an Antarctic Soils Databasewith data currently included from around 550 sitesranging from Cape Hallett to the Ellsworth Moun-tains. When completed, there will be data from about800 sites from New Zealand soils research in theTransantarctic Mountains and East Antarctica span-ning the period 1964 to 1999. The compiled data is heldin the New Zealand Landcare Research National SoilsDatabase. Consideration is presently being given as tohow other significant soils data sets that have accumu-lated, and were gathered under the programmes ofother countries working in the Antarctic, might be in-corporated into this database to enable developmentof a comprehensive Antarctic Soils Database. Conse-quently, they ask that scientists planning to describeor sample Antarctic soils could use their format for siteand soil description and compile their data in a formthat would be readily accepted into the New ZealandComprehensive Antarctic Soils Database. For enquir-ies, contact Iain Campbell (iaincampbell@xtra.co.nz)or Robert Gibb (GibbR@landcare.cri.nz)

Paul Augustinus (p.augustinus@auckland.ac.nz)

PortugalResearch on periglacial dynamics is conducted in theproject ‘Geomorphological and biophysical dynamicsand landscape units in Mediterranean mountains(1999-2001), Sierra da Estrela’. The main topics in-clude air, ground and rock temperature monitoring,geomorphological mapping of relict features, andmonitoring of contemporary periglacial dynamics inthe area above 1600 m asl. The control of the cryogenicprocesses on the vegetation are studied, and the iden-tification of the plant associations adapted to differentcryogenic dynamics is estimated by A.B. Ferreira, G.Vieira and C. Mora (Lisbon University) J. Jansen,(Nijmegen University, The Netherlands), M. Ramos(Alcalá de Henares University, Spain).

The collaboration between G. Vieira (University ofLisbon) and M. Ramos (Alcalá University) for study-ing Antarctic permafrost and active layer in theLivingston and Deception Islands continues, and newresults were presented at international meetings.

In 2001 a Portuguese Association of Geomorpho-logists was constituted (email: geomorf @ ceg. ul. pt).This is an important milestone for Portuguese geo-morphology.

Gonçalo Vieira (gtvieira@ceg.ul.pt)

OTHER NEWS

38 Frozen Ground

South KoreaIn February 2001 a new collaborative study wasstarted entitled ‘Recent and future distribution of per-mafrost in the Korean Peninsula, based on studies ofrecent permafrost forms in the mountains and plainsof the Korean Peninsula and precise AMS-dating ofSiberian ice-wedge ice’. The participants were JongChan Kim (Seoul National University, Director of theAMS-Laboratory), Uk Han (Korea Military Acad-emy), Yurij K.Vasil’chuk (Geocryology andGlaciology Department, Lomonosov’s Moscow StateUniversity,) and Alla Vasil’chuk (Lomonosov’s Mos-cow State University).

The activities in 2001 included dating LatePleistocene ice wedges from 2 cross-sections of thelower Kolyma River (Duvanny Yar and Zelyony Mys)using AMS. Future AMS studies will be performeddating ice-wedge ice complexes in three representa-tive cross-sections of Yakutia (Plakhinski Yar,Bykovsky Peninsula, and Mamontova Gora). In Au-gust 2001 Jong Chan Kim, Yurij K.Vasil’chuk and AllaVasil’chuk undertook field trips supported by theSeoul National University. At Jilmoe Bog in the OdaeMountain National Park at 1060 m a.s.l. they studiedrecent hummock formation in cooperation withKeyong Park from the National Park Authority andSon Myong Won (Taegu University). Also cross-sec-tions of multistage ground wedges at the archeologi-cal Chongok Paleolithic site (designated as the Na-tional Monument N268) was studied in cooperationwith Kidong Bae and Miyoung Hong (Hanyang Uni-versity). Several scientific papers are in preparationon precise radiocarbon dating of permafrost featuresbased on these studies.

Jong Chan Kim (jckim@phya.snu.ac.kr)

PACE Final ReportAs reported in previous issues of Frozen Ground, thePermafrost and Climate in Europe (PACE) wasfunded by the EU 4th Framework Contract ENV4 CT970492. The major objectives were:- To establish a framework for monitoring the impact

of global climate change on permafrost in the moun-tains of Europe.

- To develop methods of mapping and modelling thedistribution of thermally sensitive mountain perma-frost, and predicting modifications in this distribu-tion resulting from climate change

- To provide new, process-based, methods for assess-ing environmental and geotechnical hazards associ-ated with mountain permafrost degradation.

The PACE borehole network comprises eight,instrumented deep boreholes, of which seven weredrilled during the project period from December 1997to March 2001 (see Frozen Ground 24, 15). In order to

optimise comparability, and to ensure that thermalproperties were not excessively complex, all PACEboreholes were drilled in bedrock, in the main ridge-crest or plateau locations where winter snow accumu-lation is minimal. In all cases 100mm diameter airflush rotary drilling was used. The PACE standardborehole depth is at least 100m, but since the boreholeis protected with a covering structure at the surface, anadditional 20m-deep borehole is drilled adjacent tothe main borehole for measurement of active layerproperties under undisturbed conditions. Boreholesare lined with plastic tubing and instrumented withstandard thermistor strings assembled by F. StumpAG, Nänikon, Switzerland. Negative temperature co-efficient thermistors (Yellow Springs Instruments44006) with a relative accuracy of 0.02°C are placed ona Colorflex CY chain. Thermistor strings may be re-trieved from the boreholes for recalibration and essen-tial maintenance. Data archiving from each boreholeis initially by the national group responsible for instal-lation. Central PACE archiving is through the Univer-sity of Zurich, Switzerland. Initial results are reportedin Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 12(1) 2001, theSpecial PACE volume prepared for the 1st EuropeanPermafrost Conference in Rome. Data will be finallyarchived through GTN-P.

Techniques for mapping and characterisationof mountain permafrost developed during thePACE project are largely based on geophysical sur-veys. The main methods tested and developed weretwo-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography,conductivity surveys, seismic surveys (including to-mography), GPR, and radiometry. Combinations oftechniques were shown to be most effective in perma-frost detection and characterisation. Major progresshas also been made in numerical modelling of perma-frost distribution, the development of physicallybased numerical models of thermal interactions be-tween atmosphere-active layer-permafrost, and theintegration of remotely sensed data with Digital Ter-rain Models (DTMs) in a GIS environment for theanalysis of mountain permafrost processes. Currentstatus reports are contained in Permafrost andPeriglacial Processes 12(1). Work on geophysical map-ping was mainly centered at ETH, Zurich (DanielVonder Mühll) and TerraDat UK (Nick Russill), andon numerical modelling at the University of Zurich(Martin Hoelzle) and the University of Oslo (BerndEtzelmüller).

Mountain Permafrost Geotechnical Hazard Assess-ment in the Context of Global Warming Integration ofwork packages within the PACE programme has ledto the development of hazard assessment protocols.These include recommendations on site investigationprocedures for permafrost detection, assessment ofthe nature and character of associated hazards, andrecommendations on detailed ground investigations.

39Frozen Ground

The protocols are designed for engineering practition-ers. It is hoped that the PACE Permafrost Hazard As-sessment Protocols will be published by the EuropeanCommission in 2002. The compilation of protocols in-volves all PACE Partners, but is coordinated byCharles Harris (Cardiff) and Michael Davies (Dun-dee). A review of hazard assessment developed in thisproject is given in Permafrost and Periglacial Processes12(1).

The work of permafrost mapping, modelling andmonitoring in Europe encompassed by the PACEProject will be continued through the informal PACE21 group. See the following Open Letter from CharlesHarris for information.

PACE Partners are: University of Cardiff, Univer-sity of Stockholm, University of Oslo, University ofGiessen, Third University of Rome, UniversityComplutense Madrid, University of Zurich, VAW atETH Zurich, TerraDat UK Ltd Cardiff.

Charles Harris (harrisc@cardiff.ac.uk)

Permafrost and Climate in Europe in the 21st

Century: Open Letter to European PermafrostScientistsDear Colleagues,

The EU 4th Framework PACE project was completed inMarch 2001, and as many of you are aware, this wasmarked by the 1st European Permafrost Conference inRome, 26-28 March 2001.

The PACE permafrost borehole monitoring net-work has been established and data is being collected,analysed and archived. It is critical that this interna-tional research programme is continued into the 21st

Century, to foster a regional-scale approach to perma-frost research, and in particular, long-term permafrostmonitoring within the GTN-P programme of theGlobal Climate Observing System.

The Coordinating Committee of PACE thereforeproposes that the research infrastructure establishedunder the PACE programme be continued under thetitle Permafrost and Climate in Europe in the 21st Cen-tury (PACE 21). PACE 21 is initially organised througha Coordinating Committee chaired by Charles Harrisat the University of Cardiff. The programme is open toall who wish to participate in European PermafrostResearch. It is hoped that in addition to providing an

organisational framework for European permafrostmonitoring, PACE 21 will promote new internationalfunding initiatives, provide a forum for discussionand research development, and act as a source of in-formation on permafrost research opportunities.

Please e-mail Charles Harris (HarrisC @cardiff. ac.uk) to indicate your interest in participating in theactivities of PACE 21, and to place your name on anelectronic mailing list to receive information on futurePACE 21 projects and programmes.

The PACE 21 Coordinating Committee is: CharlesHarris, University of Cardiff, UK; Michael Davies,University of Dundee, UK; Wilfried Haeberli, Univer-sity of Zurich, Switzerland; Dani Vonder Mühll, Uni-versity of Basel, Switzerland; Johan Ludvig Sollid,University of Oslo, Norway; Bernd Etzelmüller, Uni-versity of Oslo, Norway; Lorenz King, University ofGiessen, Germany; David Palacios, UniversityComplutense Madrid, Spain; Francesco Dramis, 3rd

University of Rome, Italy; and Per Holmlund, Univer-sity of Stockholm, Sweden.On behalf of the PACE 21 Coordinating Committee,

Charles Harris

SCANNETA new three-year EU project entitled ‘The Scan-dinavian – North European Network of TerrestrialField Bases’ (SCANNET) was initiated in the spring2001. SCANNET is a network of field site leaders, re-search station managers and user groups in northernScandinavia and Europe that are collaborating to im-prove comparative observations and access to infor-mation on environmental change in the North.SCANNET partners provide stability for researchand facilitate long-term observations in terrestrialand freshwater systems. The SCANNET network ofresearch facilities includes a wide range of geographi-cal, geophysical, climatic, vegetation, faunal, hydro-logical, soil and land-use conditions. The location inthe north Atlantic Region means that within theSCANNET region there are strong environmental andland use gradients that enable focus on various driv-ers of global change.

The nine SCANNET partners are: Abisko ScientificResearch Station in northern Sweden; Kilpisjarvi Bio-logical Station in northwest Finland; Kevo SubarcticResearch Institute in northern Finland; NorwegianInstitute for Water Research´s site at Dovrefjell insouthern Norway; Zackenberg Research Station innortheast Greenland; the Centre for Ecology andHydrology´s research site in the Cairngorm Moun-tains in central Scotland; the Norwegian Polar Insti-tutes field base at Ny Ålesund at Svalbard; the Litla-Skard site in Iceland; and the Sornfelli Station at theFaroe Islands.

40 Frozen Ground

Among the aims of SCANNET are the improvementof the geographical coverage and comparability oflong-term observations and experiments related toenvironmental change, and the identification of gapsin observations and experiments and stimulation ofnew, coordinated and comparable measurement pro-grammes within the network.

The users of SCANNET include international or-ganisations like the IPA, particularly with its GTN-P.The IPA and GTN-P activities were presented at theSCANNET Users Meeting in Torshavn, the Faroe Is-lands, in November 2001. The needs for data on soiltemperature, active-layer thickness and permafrostand borehole temperatures were identified. Duringtheir meeting at the Ny Ålesund site in August, theSCANNET Station Managers were introduced in thefield to the standard CALM measurements on thenewly established CALM grid.

Hanne H. Christiansen (hhc@geogr.ku.dk)

Northern Research BasinsThe 13th Northern Research Basins International Sym-posium and Workshop took place 19-24 August, 2001in Saariselkä, Finland and Murmansk, Russia. Thegeneral theme of the Symposium and Workshop was‘Climate Change and Impacts in Northern Hydrol-ogy’. Hosted by Esko Kuusisto of Helsinki, Finland,the Symposium and Workshop was attended by 43people representing 12 countries.

International Commission on Snow and IceThe Bureau of the International Commission on Snowand Ice (ICSI) met at Maastricht, Holland, 18 July 2001.H.G. Jones follows E.M. Morris as the president of theCommission. Major points of discussion covered thequestion of adequate funding for the Global Terres-

SCANNET participants are studying different grid points in theCALM grid at Ny Ålesund, Svalbard. Photo: Hanne H. Christiansen.

trial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G) and a restructur-ing of WGMS to include other institutes and centres inorder to adjust to the rapidly increasing task, espe-cially in view of the advanced monitoring technolo-gies (remote sensing, digital terrain analysis). Con-cerning the position of ICSI within IUGG, possibilitiesof closer contacts with the IPA are envisaged. The ex-ample of the AGU Snow, Ice and Permafrost Commit-tee was referred to as an excellent mechanism of howthe reorganisation and restructuring of the originalAGU Snow and Ice Committee of the HydrologicalSection had allowed greater coordination between theglaciological and permafrost communities. Corre-sponding contacts are being established between thepresidents of ICSI and IPA.

ICSI-sponsored conferences/workshops included,among others, the ‘International symposium on seaice and its interaction with the ocean, atmosphere andbiosphere’ (Fairbanks 2000), the ‘International work-shop on debris-covered glaciers’ (Seattle 2000) and the‘International symposium on snow, avalanches andimpact of forest cover’ (Innsbruck 2000). ICSI will alsobe a cosponsor of the ICOP 2003.

Wilfried Haeberli (haeberli@geo.unizh.ch)

Climate and CryosphereCLiC: At the ICSI meeting, Roger Barry, Co-Vice Chairof the Arctic Climate System (ACSYS)/Climate andCryosphere (CliC) Science Steering Group, presentedthe objectives of the new WCRP project. CliC aims toprovide a globally integrated approach to the study ofthe role of the cryosphere in the climate system. CliCwould like to maintain close links with the SCAR andICSI. ACSYS ends in 2003 and CliC will then continuefor about 15 years. Information can be obtained via theCliC web site (http://clic.npolar.no).

Roger Barry (rbarry @kryos.colorado.edu)

41Frozen Ground

Antarctic & Cold Regions DatabaseThe American Geological Institute (AGI) is continuingthe Antarctic Bibliography and the Bibliography onCold Regions Science and Technology as part of theCold Regions Bibliography Project. These bibliogra-phies provide coverage of:- Antarctic research and exploration-Cold Regions engineering and physical science infor-mation.

AGI compiles the Cold Regions Bibliography basedon sources provided by U.S. and overseas scientists, theCold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory(CRREL), the National Science Foundation (NSF), andlibraries and polar and research institutions world-wide. In addition, through a cooperative agreementwith AGI, the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) pro-vides information on the Antarctic materials housed inthe SPRI library at the University of Cambridge. Thedatabase is searchable online. Modest subscriptionrates apply (coldregions @ agiweb .org).

Permafrost Response on Economic Development,Environmental Security and Natural ResourcesRoland Paepe and Vladimir Melnikov (eds.), Proceed-ings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop,Novosibirsk, Russia, 12-16 November 1998. NATOScience Series, 2. Environmental Security-Vol. 76, 636pages. Kluwer Academic Publishers. HardcoverUS$/EUR 245; paperback US$/EUR 95.

This state-of-the-art book on permafrost discussesthe topic in terms of geology, biology, chemistry, phys-ics, climatology, engineering, land development, en-vironmental management, social and economic im-pacts. Topics discussed include on- and offshore dataassessment, past and future permafrost evolution ac-cording to global climate change, engineering effectson permafrost, and new dimensions in geocryology,including gas hydrates, microbiology, and informa-tion technology.

Permafrost: A Guide to Frozen Ground in TransitionNeil Davis, 2000, University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks,Alaska, 352 pages (US$ 35.95) www.uaf.edu/uapress

Karl Ernst von Baer (1842): Materials for the Study ofthe ‘Eternal Ground-Ice’ in SiberiaThis book in German on the origin of permafrost re-search has for the first time been published in 2001.The book has an introduction and comments byErki Tammiksaar, Tallin. The price is EUR 35 includ-ing shipping. It can be ordered from erki@zbi.ee orlorenz. king@geogr.uni-giessen.de.

Permafrost Investigations by Geophysical MethodsThis book in Russian is by V. S. Yakupov, Yakutsk. Itsummarises knowledge and experience of geophysi-cal method applications to the study of frozen strata

structure, composition, properties and morphologyand of solving problems of geological survey andprospecting, water supply and construction in per-mafrost areas. The price is $US 25 including shipping.It can be ordered by emailing the author (yumaguja@aport.ru) who can provide further information onpayment.

200232nd International Arctic Workshop14-16 March, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research(INSTAAR), University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.Contact information: ArcticWS@colorado.edu or lookat http://instaar.colorado. edu/meetings/AW2002.

6th National Conference on Glaciology andGeocryology27-29 March, Lanzhou, China. Reseachers, scientistsand engineers from China and other countries are wel-come to participate in this conference. Contact:zhuyl@ns.lzb.ac.cn.

Extreme Phenomena in Cryosphere: Basic and ap-plied aspects12-15 May, Pushchino, Russia,Contact: vsorok@ issp.serpukhov.su

Arctic Summit Week21-27 April, The Arctic Centre, University ofGroningen, The Netherlands. More information:http://www.let.rug.nl/assw.

12th International Society of Offshore and Polar En-gineering (ISOPE)26-31 May, KitaKyushu Convention Center, Japan.More information: http://www.isope.org.

19th Polar Libraries Colloquy17-21 June, Danish Polar Center, Denmark. Contact:vsj@dpc.dk.

Climatic Change and Periglacial Environments 4-7 August, Durban, South Africa. Dr Ian Meiklejohn(Pretoria, South Africa) will organize a symposiumand excursion during the Regional IGU Conference inDurban, South Africa. The excursion will include avisit to active periglacial features at South Africa´sonly ski resort, Tiffindell. More information: http://www.turners.co.za/igu/

5th International Symposium on Permafrost Engineering10-12 September, Yakutsk, Russia.Contact: o.i. alekseeva@mpi.ysn.ru

Publications

Forthcoming meetings

42 Frozen Ground

2003Cryospheric Systems13-14 January, Geological Society, Burlington House,London. Conference aims: To promote exchange ofideas, methods and data relating to glacial andperiglacial processes, landforms and sediment asso-ciations in the context of climate change, at differenttemporal and spatial scales. Joint meeting of the Brit-ish Geomorphological Research Group and the Qua-ternary Research Association. Contact: harrisc @cardiff.ac.uk.

8th International Conference on Permafrost21-25 July, University of Zurich, Switzerland.See inside back cover for further information.

XVI INQUA Congress23-31 July, Reno, Nevada, USA. More information:http://www.dri.edu/DEES/INQUA2003/inqua _home.htm

International Conference on Arctic Margins29 September-3 October, Dartmouth Nova Scotia,Canada. Contact: Ruth Jackson: jackson @ agc.bio. ns. ca

43Frozen Ground

PresidentProf. Hugh M. FrenchDepartments of Geography andEarth Sciences,University of OttawaP.O. Box. 450, Station AOttawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, CanadaTel: 1 613 562 5800 ext. 6282Fax: 1 613 562 5192hfrench@science.uottawa.ca

Vice PresidentDr. Felix E. ArePetersburg State University andMeans of CommunicationP.O. Box 210195220 St. Petersburg, RussiaTel: 7 812 168 8318Fax: 7 812 315 2621but@peterlink.ru

Prof. Wilfried HaeberliDepartment of GeographyUniversity of ZürichWinterhurerstrasse 190CH-8057 Zürich, SwitzerlandTel: 41 1 635 5120Fax: 41 1 635 6848haeberli@geo.unizh.ch

MembersDr. Jerry BrownP.O. Box 7Woods HoleMassachusetts 02543, USATel/Fax: 1 508 457 4982jerrybrown@igc.org

Dr. Truls MølmannBarlindhaug Consult ASN-9291 Tromsø, NorwayTel: 47 7762 26 33Fax: 47 7762 26 99truls.molmann@barlindhaug.no

Prof. Zhu YuanlinCAREERIChinese Academy of SciencesLanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaTel: 86 931 884 1490Fax: 86 931 888 5241zhuyl@ns.lzb.ac.cn

The IPA SecretariatDr. Hanne H. ChristiansenInstitute of GeographyUniversity of CopenhagenOester Voldgade 101350 Koebenhavn K, DenmarkTel: 45 35 32 25 00Fax: 45 35 32 25 01hhc@geogr.ku.dk

ArgentinaDr. Dario TrombottoGeocryologyIANIGLA-CRICYT-CONICETBajada del Cerro s/n CC 3305500 Mendoza, ArgentinaTel: 54 61 28 8808Fax: 54 61 28 7370dtrombot@lab.cricyt.edu.ar

AustriaDr. Gerhard K. LiebInsitute of Geography andRegional SciencesHeinrichstrasse 36A-8010 Graz, AustriaTel: 43 316 380 5146Fax: 43 316 380 9886gerhard.lieb@uni-graz.atviktorkaufmann@tugraz.at

BelgiumDr. Albert PissartDepartment of GeographyUniversity of LiegeB11 Sart Timan, 4000 Liege BelgiumTel: 32 41 66 5257Fax: 32 41 66 5722a.pissart@ulg.ac.be

CanadaProf. Michel AllardCentre d’etudes nordiquesUniversite LavalSainte-Foy, G1K 7P4Quebec, CanadaTel: 1 418 656 2131 ext. 5416Fax: 1 418 656 3960michel.allard@cen.ulaval.ca

ChinaDr. Jin HuijunCAREERIChinese Academy of SciencesLanzhou, Gansu 730000, ChinaTel: 86 931 884 1490Fax: 86 931 888 5241fthj@aurora.uaf.edu

DenmarkMr. Henrik MaiDanish Society for ArcticTechnologyNIRAS A/S, Sortemosevej 23450 Allerød, DenmarkTel: 45 48 14 0066Fax: 45 48 14 0033HNM@niras.dk

FinlandProf. Matti SeppäläPhysical Geography LaboratoryUniversity of HelsinkiP.O. Box 9FIN- 00014 Helsinki, FinlandTel: 358 9 191 8674Fax: 358 9 191 8670matti.seppala@helsinki.fi

FranceDr. Francois CostardUMR 8616-CNRS ORSAYTERREEquipe de Planetologie Universitede Paris-Sud,Bat. 509 91405 ORSAY Cedex – FranceTel: 33 1 69 15 49 10Fax: 33 1 60 19 14 46Fcostard@geol.u-psud.fr

GermanyProf. Lorenz KingGeographisches InstitutJustus-Liebig Universität35394 Giessen, GermanyTel: 49 641 99 36205Fax: 49 641 99 36219lorenz.king@geo.uni-giessen.de

ItalyProf. Francesco DramisDipartimento di Scienze GeologicheUniversita ‘Roma Tre’, Largo S.Leonardo Murialdo 100146 Roma, ItalyTel: 39 0654888022Fax: 39 0654888201dramis@uniroma3.it

JapanDr. Masami FukudaHokkaido UniversityN19W8 Sapporo 060, JapanFax: 81 11 706 7142mfukuda@pop.lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp

KazakstanProf. Aldar P. GorbunowInstitute of GeographyKazakstan Academy of Sciences99 Pushkin St.Almaty 480100, KazakstanTel: 7 3272 321363Fax: 7 3272 618102permafrost@astel.kz

MongoliaDr. D. TumurbaatarInstitute of Geography,Mongolian Acadamy of SciencesUlaanbaator 210620, MongoliaTel: 976 1 322739Fax: 976 1 326172geo-dgv@magicnet.mn

NetherlandsDr. Jef VandenbergheInstitute of Earth SciencesVrije UniversiteitDe Boelelaan 1085NL-1081 AmsterdamThe NetherlandsTel: 31 20 444 7368Fax: 31 20 646 2457vanj@geo.vu.nl

NorwayDr. Kaare FlaateBernhard Herresvei 6N-0376 Oslo, NorwayTel: 47 22 491 087kflaate@online.no

PolandDr. Kazimierz PekalaDepartment of GeomorphologyMaria-Curie Sklodowska UniversityAkademicka 1920 - 033 Lublin, PolandTel: 48 81 5 37 5915Fax: 48 81 5 37 5102geomorf@biotop.umcs.lublin.pl

RussiaDr. V. P. MelnikovConsolidated Scientific Council on EarthCryologyRussian Academy of SciencesEarth Cryosphere InstituteBox 1230625000 Tyumen, RussiaTel: 7 345 225 1153Fax: 7 345 222 3380an@ikz.tmn.ru

South AfricaDr. Ian MeiklejohnDepartment of Geography andGeoinformaticsUniversity of PretoriaPretoria 0001 South AfricaTel: 27 12 4204049Fax: 27 12 4203284kim@nsnper1.up.ac.za

SpainDr. David E. PalaciosFacultad de Geografia FisicaUniversidad Complutense28040 Madrid, SpainTel: 34 1 394 5955Fax: 34 1 394 5963davidp@eucmax.sim.ucm.es

SwedenDr. Jonas ÅkermanDepartment of Physical GeographyUniversity of LundSölvegatan 13233 62 Lund, SwedenTel: 46 46 222 00 00Fax: 46 46 222 03 21Jonas.Akerman@natgeo.lu.se

SwitzerlandDr. Daniel Vonder MühllVice Rectorat for ResearchUniversität BaselPetersgraben 35CH-4003 BaselTel: 41 61 267 09 03Fax: 41 61 267 12 39Daniel.VonderMuehll@unibas.ch

United KingdomDr. Charles HarrisDepartment of Earth SciencesUniversity of WalesP.O. Box 914Cardiff, CF1 3YE, United KingdomTel: 44 1222 87 4830Fax: 44 1222 87 4326HarrisC@cardiff.ac.uk

United States of AmericaMr. Rupert (Bucky) TartGolder Associates Inc.1750 Abbott Road, Suite 200Anchorage, AK, USA 99507Tel: 1 907 344 6001Fax: 1 907 344 6011Btart@golder.com

Members / National ContactsExecutive Committee

IPA

December 2001International Permafrost Association Council

44 Frozen Ground

Standing Committe, Co-ChairsData, Information andCommunication

Dr. Roger Barry, DirectorWorld Data Center GlaciologyCampus Box 449University of ColoradoBoulderColorado 80309-0449, USATel: 1 303 492 5171Fax: 1 303 492 2468rbarry@kryos.colorado.edu

Dr. Mike Clark, DirectorGeoData InstituteUniversity of SouthamptonSouthampton SO17 1BJ, U.K.Tel: 44 1703 592719Fax: 44 1703 592849mjc@soton.ac.uk

Global Change and PermafrostDr. Oleg A. AnisimovDepartment of ClimatologyState Hydrological Institute2nd Line V.O.,23199053 St. Petersburg, RussiaTel: 7 812 213 8960Fax: 7 812 323 1028oleg@oa7661.spb.edu

Dr. Frederick E. NelsonDepartment of GeographyUniversity of DelawareNewark, Delaware 19716-2541 USATel: 1 302 831 2294Fax: 1 302 831 6654fnelson@udel.edu

Periglacial Processes andEnvironmentsProf. Ole HumlumPhysical GeographyThe University Courses on SvalbardP.O. Box 1569171 Longyearbyen, NorwayTel: 47 79 02 33 00Fax: 47 79 02 33 01oleh@unis.no

Dr. Norikazu MatsuokaInstitute of GeoscienceUniversity of TsukubaTennodai 1-1-1Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8571, JapanTel: 81 298 53 4540Fax: 81 298 51 9764matsuoka@atm.geo.tsukuba.ac.jp

Permafrost EngineeringProf. Lev N. KhroustalevDepartment of GeocryologyFaculty of GeologyMoscow State UniversityVorobyovy Gory119899 Moscow, RussiaFax: 7 095 939 01 26lev-khrus@mtu-net.ru

Dr. Branko LadanyiDept. de Genies CivilGeologie et des MinesEcole PolytechniqueCP 6079, succ. Centre-villeMontreal, PQ H3C 3A7, CanadaTel: 1 514 340 5711, ext. 4804Fax: 1 514 340 5841bladanyi@mail.polymtl.ca

CryosolsDr. Sergey V. GoryachkinInstitute of GeographyRussian Academy of SciencesStaromonetnyi pers. 29109017 Moscow, RussiaTel: 7 095 238 1867Fax: 7 095 230 2090pedology@igras.geonet.ruSergey.Goryachkin@nsscnt.nssc.nrcs.usda.gov

Dr. Charles TarnocaiAgriculture and Agri-Food, CanadaK.W. Neatby Building, Rm 1135960 Carling AvenueOttawa, Ontario K1A 0C6, CanadaTel: 1 613 759 1857Fax: 1 613 759 1937tarnocaict@em.agr.ca

Coastal and Offshore PermafrostDr. Hans HubbertenAlfred Wegener InstituteTelegrafenberg A43Potsdam, D-14773 GermanyTel: 49 331 288 2100Fax: 49 331 288 2137hubbert@awi-potsdam.de

Prof. Nikolai N. RomanovskiiDepartment of GeocryologyFaculty of GeologyMoscow State UniversityVorobyovy Gory119899 Moscow, RussiaTel: 7 095 939 1937; 133-2668 (home)Fax: 7 095 932 8889nromanovsky@glas.apc.org

Coastal Erosion SubgroupDr. Steven SolomonGeological Survey of Canada (Atlantic)P.O. Box 1006Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y 4A2CanadaTel: 1 902 426 8911Fax: 1 902 426 4104ssolomon@agc.bio.ns.ca

Southern HemispherePermafrost and PeriglacialEnvironmentsDr. Jan BoelhouwersPhysical Geography, UppsalaUniversity, Villavägen 16,S 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.Tel: 46 18 4712524Fax:46 18 555920jan.boelhouwers@natgeog.uu.se

Prof. Kevin HallGeography ProgramUniversity of Northern BritishColumbia3333 University WayPrince George, BC, V2N 4Z9, Canadahall@unbc.ca

Working Groups, Co-Chairs

Rock Glacier Dynamics andPermafrost CreepProf. Wilfried HaeberliDepartment of GeographyUniversity of ZürichWinterthurerstrasse 190CH-8057 Zürich, SwitzerlandTel: 41 1 635 51 20Fax: 41 1 635 68 48haeberli@geo.unizh.ch

Mapping and Distribution Modelling ofMountain PermafrostDr. Bernd Etzelmuller,Department of Physical Geography,University of OsloP.O. Box 1042, BlindernOslo, N-0316 NorwayTel: 47 2285 7229Fax: 47 2285 7230bernd.etzelmuller@geografi.uio.no

Isotope/Geochemistry of PermafrostDr. Rein Vaikmäe,Institute of GeologyTallinn Technical UniversityEstonia pst. 7EE0001 Tallinn, EstoniaTel: 372 641 0091Fax: 372 631 2074vaikmae@gi.ee

Task Forces, Chairs

Individual MembersDr. Rein Vaikmäe,Institute of GeologyTallinn Technical UniversityEstonia pst. 7EE0001 Tallinn, EstoniaTel: 372 641 0091Fax: 372 631 2074vaikmae@gi.ee

Dr. Petru E. UrdeaWest University of TimisoaraDepartment of GeographyPestalozzi Str. 161900, Timisoara, RomaniaTel: 40 56 190 377Fax: 40 56 190 333urdea@cbg.uvt.ro

Dr. Goncalo Teles VieiraCentro de Estudos GeograficosUniversidade de LisboaFaculdade de LetrasAlameda da Universidade1600-214 Lisboa, PortugalTel: 351 1 7940218Fax: 351 1 7938690gtvieira@ceg.ul.pt

8th InternationalConference on Permafrost

Zürich, Switzerland21 - 25 July 2003

www.geo.unizh.ch/ICOP2003/

International Permafrost Association

Layout : Kent Pørksen, Institute of Geography, University of CopenhagenPrinted : Clichéfa Tryk A/S, Denmark

IPA

IPA web site:http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/ipa

Global Georyological Database (GGD) and CAPS CD-ROM:http://nsidc.org/frozenground/

Periglacial Environments and Processes (IGU Commission and IPA Working Group):http://www.cpes.susx.ac.uk/igu

Manual of periglacial techniques (IPA Permafrost and Periglacial Processes Working Group)http://www.unis.no/research/geology/Geo_research/Ole/PeriglacialHandbook/HandbookMain.htm

IPA Task Force on Mapping and Distribution Modelling of Mountain Permafrost:http://www.geografi.uio.no/ipa

Cirumpolar Active Layer Monitoring:http://www.geography.uc.edu/~kenhinke/CALM

Global Terrestial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P):http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/gtnp

Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) Initiative:http://www.awi-potsdam.de/www-pot/geo/acd.html

Permafrost and Climate in Europe (PACE):http://www.cf.ac.uk/earth/pace/