2020 US Permafrost Association Annual Report

US Permafrost Association 2020 Annual Report

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

February 28, 2021

The following document is the 2020 Annual Report of the United States Permafrost Association. The report details USPA’s 2020 activities and

contains 28 individual reports from agencies, universities, institutes, and engineering and research organizations that are involved in the scientific and engineering investigations of permafrost. This year’s report includes 2021 Board of Directors an appendix with internet links to many organizational publications. I encourage you to take some time to read the report and to share it with Cathy Wilson other colleagues. President

John Thornley I want to thank our 2020 institutional and corporate members and President-Elect sponsors for their continuing support (organizational logos are Susan Wilson illustrated in the report). Also, our more than 200 individual members Secretary are recognized and thanked as well. Without these organizations and Peppi Croft members, we would not be able to provide services to our members, the Treasurer general public, and the next generation of permafrost scientists and engineers. If you have not taken the opportunity to renew your John Zarling membership for 2021, it is easy to do so on the USPA website. I also Past-President want to thank the 2020 Board members and the chairs of the Torsten Mayrberger Membership and Communications committees for their help and Board Member guidance that they provided throughout the year. Jessica Ernakovich Board Member It has been an honor to serve as the 2020 President of USPA. I am looking Michelle Walvoord forward to 2021, our Regional Conference on Permafrost (RCOP) Board Member conference, hopefully the end of the pandemic, and sharing our collective expertise to advance the science and engineering of Anna Wagner permafrost forward. Board Member

Helena Bergstedt Sincerely yours, PYRN Representative Fritz Nelson IPA Executive Committee

Kevin Schaefer John P. Zarling, Ph.D., P.E. IPA Representative Past President, USPA Ed Yarmak IPA Representative

U.S. Permafrost Association PO Box 750141 Fairbanks, AK 99775-0141 Email: [email protected]

http://USPermafrost.org

Table of Contents The Year in Review ...... 1 Institutional Member Reports ...... 3 Massive Ice Geophysical Institute Permafrost Laboratory, University of Alaska Institute of Northern Engineering, Water and Environmental Research Center, Univ. of Alaska National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado Ice Wedge International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska University of Virginia Woodwell Climate Research Center Ice Vein American Geosciences Institute Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies Systems Ecology Laboratory, University of Texas at El Paso U.S. Arctic Research Commission Corporate Member Reports ...... 8 Lifetime Arctic Foundations, Anchorage, Alaska Ice Wedge ABR Inc., Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska Alaska Ecoscience, Fairbanks, Alaska Geo-Watersheds Scientific, Fairbanks, Alaska Agency/ Organization Reports ...... 9 Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys American Society of Civil Engineers Oak Ridge National Laboratory U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory U.S. Geological Survey University Reports ...... 13 George Washington University Michigan State University Penn State University University of Alaska Anchorage, Department of Civil Engineering University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska Geobotany Center University of New Hampshire Network Reports ...... 16 Permafrost Carbon Network Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) Permafrost Collaboration Team In Memoriam to U.S. Permafrost Colleagues ...... 18 Acknowledgements: Corporate and Institutional Members and Sponsors ...... 18 Links and Citations ...... 19 2020 UPEF AGU Awardees ...... 23

Citation: Brown, J., Wilson, S, & Lilly, M.R. (Eds.) 2021. US Permafrost Association 2020 Annual Report, US Permafrost Association. Fairbanks, Alaska. 24 pages.

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The Year in Review testimonials of the awardees’ experiences in their virtual AGU sessions. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Annual The USPA appointed Peppi Croft of Meeting of the U.S. Permafrost Association Shannon and Wilson Incorporated in Fairbanks (USPA) was held virtually on December 15 to as the chair of the Permafrost Engineering coincide with the Fall Meeting of the American Education Program (PEEP). We thank Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, Margaret Rudolph, the retiring Chair, for her CA. Participating in the meeting were many innovative contributions to the PEEP. approximately 50 members including Board The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Committee members. Recording of the Advisory (DEI) Committee, chaired by Cathy Zoom meeting, organized by Kevin Schaefer Wilson, was organized during the year. with the assistance of John Zarling and Cathy The Membership Committee, chaired by Wilson, is available on the USPA website. Jerry Brown, reported a final 2020 membership Results of the Board of Directors elections of 224, an increase from last year’s 171. were announced. During the past year and in Included are three new Lifetime Members, 51 order to provide opportunities for increased student/PRYN members, and ten Corporate diversity, the Board approved two additional and nine Institutional members. Membership elected Board positions. The 2020 ballot represents 47 universities, seven federal resulted in John Thornley, President-Elect, agencies, two state agencies, 30 States and Susan Wilson, Secretary for a second term; and members from several other countries (see Jessica Ernakovich and Michelle Walvoord as attached map for additional demographics). new Members-at-Large. Anna Wagner was Nicholas Hassan, University of Alaska appointed by the Board to fill the remaining graduate student, the U.S. National new position. Continuing on the Board are: Representative on the PYRN Council, replaces John Zarling, Past-President; Peppi Croft, Stephanie James on the Committee as the Treasurer; Torsten Mayrberger, Member-at- PYRN representative. Large, Kevin Schaefer and Edward Yarmak, USPA continued to develop plans for the both U.S. Representatives to the Council of the IPA Regional Conference on Permafrost International Permafrost Association and Fritz (RCOP) and 19th International Conference on Nelson as representative of the IPA Executive Cold Regions Engineering (ICCRE) under the Committee. These latter three attended the leadership of Tom Douglas. Due in large part virtual IPA Council meeting in June 2020. to COVID-19, the conference has been delayed Helena Bergstedt was selected to replace to October 24-29, 2021 as an all-virtual Matthew Whitley as PYRN Board Member. meeting with some potential in-person events Mark Bennett retired from the Board and his in Boulder, Colorado and elsewhere. The services, as well as those of Matthew, are conference theme is "Permafrost Dynamics in gratefully acknowledged. Polar and Alpine Environments” and is co- USPA-PYRN Education Fund (UPEF) organized by USPA, UC Boulder and the provided four grants to cover registration costs American Society of Civil Engineers. The associated with the AGU Fall Meeting. These conference website is accessible through the awards were made to: Raven Mitchell USPA website and includes the growing list of (Michigan State University), Allison Tryka sponsors. The ASCE’s Cold Regions (Portland State University), Mary Farina Engineering Division, is completing the review (Montana State University), and Sara Sayedi of 35 papers, under the leadership of Jon Zufelt, (Brigham Young University). The UPEF that are to be published in its proceedings Committee, chaired by Kelsey Nyland, was volume. responsible for solicitation of applications and With the coordination of the the review process. See appendix for Communications Committee (CC), chaired by

Michael Lilly, the American Geosciences presenting were 49 USPA members including Institute (AGI) continued to provide the 14 students. monthly catalog of world-wide, permafrost Michael Lilly, President, Geo Watershed literature. In 2020, the Permafrost Monthly Scientific (GWS), informed the USPA that the Alert (PMA) program added 850 accessions growing and extensive technical, including 545 conference abstracts. For 2020, administrative staff and fiscal accounting PMA content inquiries (views by individual support provided to USPA, would by necessity readers) exceeded 12,900 user visits and since be scaled backed. The Board of Directors of the starting in 2012 has exceeded 82,000 user U.S. Permafrost Association fully appreciates views of information, not counting access to the circumstances leading up to this decision the AGI COLD public reference database. and expresses its gratitude to Michael and the For the third consecutive year, CC member GWS staff for its dedicated support starting in Kristina Levine, student at Texas A&M 2002 with the formation of the U.S. Permafrost University and supported by GWS, once again Association. prepared a compilation of permafrost-related This report was compiled and edited by presentations for the AGU Fall Meeting. This Jerry Brown, Chairman, USPA Membership year, Kristina was also helped by Yirlen Arias, Committee and assisted by Susan Wilson, University of Costa Rica and supported by USPA Secretary. Reports by member GWS. The 300 abstracts were presented as organizations are presented first, followed by virtual papers and posters over an 11-day nonmember reports. A compilation of Internet period and the listing was posted on the USPA links, websites and references referred to in the and Facebook websites. Among those reports is appended.

Institutional Member Reports Slope and Southwest Alaska (Nicolsky and Kholodov). The USArray temperature profilers Geophysical Institute Permafrost primarily supplement the existing network and Laboratory- University of Alaska provide data in the remote underrepresented locations. The additional data will provide The GIPL continued observations of better ground truthing of permafrost and permafrost temperatures at our network of temperature conditions in Alaska. permafrost observatories in Alaska and Russia During 2020, the GI Permafrost Laboratory (Vladimir Romanovsky, Colby Wright, began work on two new NSF NNA projects: Alexander Kholodov, Dmitry Nicolsky, and “Arctic Urban Risks and Adaptations (AURA): Louise Farquharson). Due to travel restrictions a co-production framework for addressing related to the COVID-19, we were not able to multiple changing environmental hazards” in visit our sites in the Seward Peninsula, collaboration with colleagues at the University Utqiaġvik, Kaktovik, Kotzebue, and in the of Alaska Anchorage (Nicolsky, Farquharson, Canadian Archipelago this year. The rest of the and Wright), and “Resilience and adaptation to sites in Alaska were visited and data collected. the effects of permafrost degradation induced Many of our sites, including the sites in coastal erosion” in collaboration with Utqiaġvik, Seward Peninsula, Selawik area, colleagues at Penn State, Missouri University and in the Canadian Archipelago are still of Science and Technology and the University transmitting data in a near-real time mode. of Idaho (Nicolsky, Farquharson, These data, as well as the data collected at other Romanovsky, Kholodov, and Wright). As part stations, can be viewed and downloaded from of the AURA project, lab members co-lead our Lab website. The temperature of workshops with the Fairbanks Borough, permafrost at almost all sites is still rising and Municipality of Anchorage, and City of taliks started to develop at almost 30 sites in Whitehorse in order to learn more about the Interior Alaska. needs of each entity in relation to predicting We used these observational data to improve future hazards related to permafrost our high-resolution permafrost dynamics degradation, wildfire, and winter rain events. models for Alaska (Nicolsky, Matvey As part of the Resilience project, lab members Debolskiy, Marchenko, Romanovsky, and conducted community visits to Wainwright and Farquharson). We focused on a high-resolution participated in Zoom-based meetings with the ecotype-based modeling of the ground community of Point Lay to discuss concerns temperature and permafrost distribution in the related to permafrost degradation and its Seward Peninsula and in the Brooks Range, ongoing impact on infrastructure. The lab is Alaska (to be submitted). Modeling results are also set to begin on a new NSF NNA Track 2 based on the assimilation of various project in early 2021: “Planning for observations, (i.e., temperature, snow depth, Infrastructure Resiliency and Adaptation amid active layer thickness), conducted by GIPL, Increasing Mass-Movement Risks across the USGS, NPS, NRCS, USArray, and other Cryosphere”. groups. Modeling studies indicate a severe Submitted by Vladimir Romanovsky degradation of permafrost except for the Arctic coast of Alaska. The ecotype-based permafrost Institute of Northern Engineering, modeling is to be applied to the Interior of Water and Environmental Research Alaska; about twenty ground temperature Center, University of Alaska profilers were installed this year around Fairbanks. Some preliminary results of this In 2020, INE and WERC researchers effort may be viewed at our modeling website. continued to conduct research at the With a recently received NSF award convergence of permafrost science and focusing on sustaining the USArray in Alaska, engineering with a focus on how climate ground temperature monitoring is to be change, land use change, infrastructure, conducted at about 45 seismic sites in the North hydrology, ecosystem shifts and disturbances 3

interact in terrestrial and aquatic systems to New projects that started during this impact permafrost evolution, degradation, and reporting period include a recently funded feedbacks from local landscapes to the circum- Department of Defense Environmental Arctic. Security Technology Certification Program During the last year, INE and WERC project to develop the Arctic Environmental researchers published an essay on Coastal and Engineering Data and Design Support Permafrost Erosion in NOAAs 2020 Arctic System (Stuefer and Darrow) and an NSF- Report Card (Jones et al.) submitted as part of funded project to continue support for long- the NSF-funded Permafrost Coastal Systems term data collection to study the carbon, water, Network, a paper in Nature Climate Change and energy balance at flagship observatories in describing a new application in remote sensing Alaska and Siberia (Walter Anthony and to detect methane emissions from northern Stuefer). Benjamin Barst, Research Assistant permafrost-region lakes (Engram et al.), a Professor, and Melissa Ward Jones, post- paper in Environmental Research Letters on the doctoral researcher under the mentorship of recent role of beaver activity controlling Yuri Shur, joined INE/WERC in 2020. surface water dynamics in ice-rich permafrost Submitted by Ben Jones and William terrain (Jones et al.), a paper in JGR Schnabel Biogeosciences that focused on vegetation and National Snow and Ice Data Center, permafrost responses to tundra fires in the Noatak River Basin in Northwest Alaska University of Colorado (Gaglioti et al.), a paper in Water Resources The NSIDC initiated a new area of research Research summarizing more than three focusing on the release of mercury from decades of snow survey data collection efforts thawing permafrost [Schaefer et al.]. Mercury in two northern Alaska watersheds (Stuefer et bound to frozen organic matter in permafrost al.), and the 2nd edition of Permafrost in our represents the largest reservoir of mercury on Time (Yoshikawa) "Siberian permafrost" (in the planet. As permafrost thaws, the decay of Russian) in cooperation with the Yakutsk organic matter will resume and release the Permafrost Institute (M. Zheleznyak) and stored mercury into the environment. In a Sakha Republic government (M. Prisiazhnyi). future of unconstrained burning of fossil fuels, Field research accomplishments in 2020 the annual release of mercury from thawing include ongoing monitoring and enhanced permafrost will rival current anthropogenic instrumentation of frozen debris lobes (FDLs) emissions, but persist for centuries. In contrast, in the southern Brooks Range, Alaska. that will if we meet the Paris Accord warming target, the threaten the Dalton Highway embankment in permafrost will not release much mercury. 2021 (Darrow); drilling and installation of We are exploring new ways to use remote permafrost monitoring stations on several sensing to study permafrost dynamics, focusing mountains in South America (Chile and Peru), on lidar and radar. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Mexico, and Hawaii (Yoshikawa); and Delta, the peat plateaus heave up during establishment of the Teshekpuk Lake permafrost formation. We measure height with Observatory (TLO) as a UAF-permitted lidar and use a soil expansion model to estimate research station. A new Circumpolar Active permafrost thickness, with a median thickness Layer Monitoring (CALM) grid was of 39 m. established at the TLO (Site U60) in August We continue to develop Interferometric 2020. Mikhail Kanevskiy started working on Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) techniques the DoD-funded project “AKRO-CRREL Soil to measure the surface subsidence resulting and Water Sample Analyses (2020-2021).” when the active layer thaws. NASA funded the This study includes cryostratigraphic mapping project as part of the Arctic Boreal and collecting samples of ground ice and frozen Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). We soils in the new CRREL Permafrost tunnel at combine airborne L-band and P-band radar to Fox. simultaneously estimate ALT and soil moisture 4

for 66 flight lines in Alaska and northwest by Bob Bolton) were produced. This work is Canada. We released Version 3 of the product being continued under the auspices of the in December 2020, which is available at newly established DOE Arctic Energy ORNL. Laboratory at UAF. Submitted by Kevin Schaefer The collaboration between IARC and the Chinese State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric International Arctic Research Sciences is continuing under several scientific Center, University of Alaska themes. Researchers from IARC and the COVID-19 significantly impacted our field Institute of Northern Engineering (UAF) research programs in 2020 as travel to many of attended a workshop in Lijiang, China, focused our field sites was extremely limited, if not on “Cryospheric Changes in a Warming entirely eliminated. NASA ABoVE field Climate: Filling the Gap Between Observations project to quantify thermokarst and related and Decision Making.” As part of this carbon release following the historically largest collaboration, Bob Bolton and Tonghua Wu tundra fire on the North Slope (the Anaktuvuk (SKLCS) are leading an effort comparing the River Fire) by Go Iwahana is now in the final discontinuous permafrost and moisture extended stage. In addition to the Anaktuvuk conditions found on the Seward Peninsula and River fire, permafrost sampling for analyses of on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. In 2020, we GHG/carbon/ice content and monitoring of had planned to install additional monitoring thaw depth, surface moisture and displacement stations on the Seward Peninsula, but were were conducted along the Dalton Highway, unable to move forward due to COVID-19. near Utqiaġvik, Kougarok in the Seward Long-term micrometeorological flux studies Peninsula, and Fairbanks (Iwahana et al.). at Poker Flat Research Range, UAF have been Laboratory studies continued following the conducted since 2010 in collaboration between 2017 and 2018 visits to the Barrow Permafrost IARC and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth and Tunnel in Utqiaġvik by researchers from Technology (JAMSTEC). Monitoring and University of Washington (PI: J. Deming) and research activities are now supported also by University of Alaska (Co-I: H. Eicken). The the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II project is a comprehensive effort to explore the (ArCS II) project, in which the active layer and biological diversity and genomics of bacterial, permafrost monitoring at multiple locations algal, and viral communities in a permafrost were installed. cryopeg and sea-ice brines with several papers Submitted by Bob Bolton published/submitted (Cooper et al. 2019; Zhi- Ping Zhong et al. 2021). University of Virginia Four US DOE Laboratories (Los Alamos, The newly formed University of Virginia Sandia, Pacific Northwest, and National (UVA) Arctic Research Center recently Renewable Energy) along with UAF formed received funding from the NSF Navigating the the Arctic Lab Partnership (ALPs). The goal of New Arctic program for the project entitled the ALPs working groups is to identify “Understanding the Changing Natural-Built actionable pathways for collaborative, multi- Landscape in an Arctic Community: An organizational research and development Integrated Sensor Network in Utqiaġvik, efforts that address important and compelling Alaska.” The project collaborators come from arctic challenges. In summer 2020, a series of four separate colleges at UVA: Howard Epstein meetings with DOE and UAF stakeholders and Claire Griffin (Department of took place to help define the challenges and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and opportunities broadly related to science, Sciences), Matthew Jull and Leena Cho security and energy. Within the ALPs Science (College of Architecture), Caitlin Wylie working group, two white papers focusing on (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), Coastal & Marine Ecosystem processes (co-led and Luis Felipe Rosado Murillo (School of by Hajo Eicken) and Terrestrial Science (co-led Data Sciences). Collaborators outside of UVA 5

include the Cold Regions Research and bring this research to the policy community, Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), the Cold have partnered with ESRI to develop a new Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC), data visualization and mapping tool, and will the North Slope Borough (NSB), the be developing shared spatial analysis tools via Tagiugmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority the Permafrost Discovery Gateway (Anna (TNHA), the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation Liljedahl). Woodwell's scientists contributed (UIC), and TRIBN Consulting. The project to numerous academic and media reports and will utilize cooperative knowledge production presented our permafrost research at several along with a network of terrestrial/aquatic scientific meetings including the Permafrost sensors and geophysical surveys to assess Carbon Network, NASA ABoVE, and the interactions among built and natural American Geophysical Union meetings. components of Utqiaġvik to inform design Submitted by Susan Natali efforts and planning decisions. A subset of the Arctic research group at American Geosciences Institute UVA (Epstein, Griffin, and Kelcy Kent) American Geosciences Institute continued continues to collaborate on an NSF-funded to produce the Permafrost Monthly Report. project led by Anna Liljedahl to study the AGI published Geosciences Supporting a dynamics of ice-wedge degradation and Thriving Society in a Changing World, a aggradation in polygonal landscapes of the product of the Critical Issues program. This Alaskan North Slope and Coastal Plain. Field booklet outlines the issues facing society studies include three Alaska locations: Jago ranging from climate change to workforce River in ANWR, Deadhorse / Prudhoe Bay, needs and is distributed to the national and Utqiagvik. Our group is focusing on the campaigns to encourage decision-makers to ecology and biogeochemistry of the dynamic draw on the expertise of geoscientists. AGI ice-wedge complexes, examining the also expanded its Career Compass infographic vegetation, and carbon and nitrogen cycling series to include one for Geological Engineer. components in soils and surface water, as ice The Career Compass infographics provide wedges degrade and potentially re-stabilize. easy-to-read, one-page overviews of strategies Submitted by Howard Epstein for how students can obtain the skills needed for a geoscience career. The AGI webinar Woodwell Climate Research Center series saw increased activity during 2020 with In 2020 WCRC permafrost research focused more than 400 attendees for Mapping on using remote sensing data to detect pan- Displacement and Subsidence with Time-Series Arctic changes in landscape characteristics Radar. associated with climate change and permafrost Submitted by Sharon Tahirkheli thaw, including changes in vegetation, surface Center for Snow and Avalanche water, ground freeze/thaw, and carbon fluxes across the northern permafrost region (Arctic Studies Carbon Monitoring and Prediction System- CSAS continues to monitor snow and Arctic MaPS; Susan Natali, Brendan Rogers, hydrologic conditions at the high Colorado Jennifer Watts, Anna Virkkala, Rachel Mountains at our Senator Beck Study Basin Treharne). We are also using satellite data to (SBB) in the Northern San Juan Mountains. map methane craters and thermokarst across Our near 20-year climate/energy balance and the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas (Gregory stream gauge data continues to inform water Fiske, Scott Zolkos, Susan Natali), and leading managers, researchers, and modelers. The studies of the impact of climate warming on Colorado Dust-on-Snow Program continued to glacier melt and permafrost thaw in landslide- assess and report conditions throughout generated tsunamis in Alaska (Anna Colorado on behalf of the water management Liljedahl). We are working with Harvard and researcher community. We taught a University Belfer Center Arctic Initiative to number of week-long university field courses 6

as well as the annual Snow School for Water plot to regional scale hyperspectral reflectance Managers. CSAS is hosting the NASA data for vegetation productivity and other SnowEx campaign in its efforts to develop a variables to AVIRIS-NG airborne data and snow-sensing satellite and instrumentation. commercial satellite imagery, and the SBB is the highest elevation site and one of two development of new methods for linking sites with a focused albedo effort. We are canopy solar induced fluorescence (SIF) and supporting Zoe Courville, CRREL, in her physiological function for high latitude fourth year in SBB, who is conducting research vegetation. on dust-in-snow, microbes in dust, snow Education grants from NSF-IUSE, and surface roughness and subsequent melt rates DHS’s Arctic Domain Awareness Center through sublimation and evaporation. (ADAC) support field-based learning Submitted by Jeff Derry opportunities for students from across the University of Texas at El Paso, nation (virtual in 2020). Under contract to NSF-RSL’s new contractor, Battelle Arctic Systems Ecology Laboratory Research Operations, we maintain a series of UTEP’s Systems Ecology Lab (SEL) is web mapping and information systems that comprised of an interdisciplinary team of provides the who, what, where, and when for faculty, staff, postdocs and students who i.) NSF Arctic logistics (Arctic Research Mapping examine the biophysical properties and Application) and the US Arctic Observing processes that control ecosystem structure and Network (Arctic Observing Viewer). The function and ii.) develop novel technologies for majority of our data is archived at the NSF Data the environmental sciences. The SEL team Center, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s maintains research focused on Arctic field- Distributed Active Archive Center, and the based education, technology development, and Ecological Spectral Information System at the terrestrial, coastal, and nearshore environments University of Wisconsin. Although the lab was funded by NSF, NASA, NOAA, DHS, and active throughout 2020 working remotely, field Microsoft. The NSF-funded International data collection was significantly impacted by Tundra Experiment (ITEX) - Arctic Observing the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful to Network (AON) initiative focuses on the Ukpeaġvik Inupiat Corporation Science documenting and understanding terrestrial LLC for both access to their lands for our ecosystem change at plot to regional scales research and for maintaining several critical through in situ field data collection and scaling time series measurements in 2020 when we using remote sensing. Our participation in the could not be present in the field. NSF-funded Beaufort Lagoon Ecosystems Submitted by Craig Tweedie Long Term Ecological Research (BLE-LTER) project is focused on exploring the fate and U.S. Arctic Research Commission transport of land-lagoon exports from runoff In its “Report on the Goals and Objectives and coastal erosion. We are partnered to the for Arctic Research 2019-2020,” the U.S. new NSF-ACCELNET project Permafrost Arctic Research Commission (USARC) Coastal Systems Network (PerCS-Net) that encouraged support for demonstration projects links our coastal erosion measurements to an to address engineering design of Arctic international community focused on synthesis infrastructure. Engineers and planners need and exchange. Our contribution to the NOAA- decision-support tools, with regularly updated CESSRT funded project focuses on developing information, to plan, design, and construct innovative remote sensing methods for infrastructure in a rapidly changing Arctic monitoring coastal change and improving the environment. Such tools will supersede derivation of marine biogeochemistry using outdated planning tools and guidance ocean color remote sensing. Projects funded by documents, will increase value engineering via the NASA Arctic Boreal Vulnerability cost reduction, and may serve as the archetype Experiment ABoVE project, focus on using for tools designed for non-Arctic regions. In 7

response, the Department of Defense’s however, we were fortunate to be able to safely Environmental Security Technology initiate and maintain these tasks. Certification Program (ESTCP) released a call Submitted by Ed Yarmak for proposals on the topic “Infrastructure resiliency Arctic engineering design tool,” and ABR, Inc.—Environmental Research in 2020, awarded ~$2M to Kevin Bjella, & Services CRREL, for a revision of the DoD’s Unified Founded in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1976, Facilities Criteria 3-130 (Arctic and Sub-Arctic ABR has provided biological and ecological Construction) and ~$1.8M to T. Scott Rupp, consulting services for over 40 years to an array University of Alaska Fairbanks for an Arctic of private and public sector clients across environmental and engineering data and design Alaska. ABR is a triple bottom line company support system. which means that in pursuit of our In other news, between August 2020 and organizational mission—to provide honest, January 2021, President Trump appointed reliable scientific research and exceptional seven new commissioners to the USARC. The client service—we maintain three measures of Commission, which debuted its new website in success: economic viability, environmental November, continues to publish a daily “Arctic stewardship, and social responsibility. 2020 Update” newsletter. Subscribe at brought an exceptional series of challenges, but www.arctic.gov. ABR researchers were able to undertake some Submitted by John Farrell summer field projects along the Alaska road system and at remote locations in northwestern Corporate Member Reports Alaska. ABR researchers also took advantage of the unexpected “desktop” and writing time Arctic Foundations, Inc. to tie together a series of basic and applied AFI is a manufacturer of thermosyphon studies of permafrost ecosystems now devices that are used to maintain and augment published in the literature. permafrost soils. In late August 2020, AFI Led by Aaron Wells, ABR’s Ecological entered into a contract with CRREL to perform Land Survey (ELS) team synthesized over research and development services with regard 3,500 km² of detailed ecosystem and to the advancement of thermosyphon geomorphic mapping performed on Alaska’s technology. The work is threefold; investigate North Slope over the last 26 years. Integrated and improve the performance of Terrain Unit (ITU) mapping provides a thermosyphons, improve linear infrastructure baseline for monitoring permafrost by further development of thermosyphons, and geomorphology against a backdrop of climate investigate the extension of structure life by change and ongoing industrial activity. ABR retrofitting existing thermosyphons. In the last vegetation scientists Gerald (J.J.) Frost and Ina four months of 2020, an instrumented test Timling coauthored a new publication section was installed at the CRREL Farmer’s exploring the link between permafrost thaw Loop Test Site, thermosyphons were and tundra shrub expansion in the North Slope manufactured and shipped to the CRREL in foothills near the Toolik Field Station. The Hanover, NH, for controlled testing, a 330- study was a collaboration with University of meter, flat-loop evaporator thermosyphon was Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Department of installed with instrumentation at Wainwright, Natural Resources, and funded by the National AK, we assisted CRREL researchers in Science Foundation (NSF). Frost also led an Fairbanks with a solar-powered, hybrid international working group which developed thermosyphon installation, and planned the two peer-reviewed reports on global tundra retrofit of existing thermosyphons on a vegetation dynamics as part of the National structure at Nunam Iqua, AK, to extend the life Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the facility. Fieldwork during the COVID-19 (NOAA) Arctic Report Card, and the American pandemic was severely curtailed and difficult; Meteorological Society’s State of the Climate 8

Report. Frost also continues to lead studies of evaluating the power, communications and ecosystem conditions and permafrost-related data quality for the stations and their changes on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta as applicability to remote off-grid sections of part of the NASA Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Alaska transportation networks. Another joint Experiment (ABoVE). project is being conducted with the Cold Submitted by J.J. Frost Climate Housing and Research Center (CCHRC) to evaluate high groundwater levels Alaska Ecoscience in the discontinuous permafrost area that the Alaska Ecoscience participated in four facility is located and how to reduce impacts to collaborative research projects in 2020. With the facility. Yuri Shur’s upper permafrost project, Submitted by Michael R. Lilly Jorgenson continued thermophysical monitoring at several boreal thermokarst sites. Agency/ Organization Reports More extensive fieldwork in northern Alaska was reduced due to COVID-19 restrictions. Alaska Department of Natural With Tom Douglas’s SERDP climate change Resources, Division of Geological & impacts project in central Alaska, Jorgenson monitored soil, vegetation and thermal regimes Geophysical Surveys of north-facing black spruce permafrost The Division of Geological & Geophysical ecosystems and thermokarst peatlands on the Surveys (DGGS) continued to collaborate with Tanana Flats. As part of an ABoVe permafrost other scientists on a number of permafrost- hydrology project, Jorgenson conducted drone related topics. Efforts are underway to generate mapping of three thermal erosion gullies in a 3D permafrost map of the Goldstream Valley central Alaska, as well as maintained using electromagnetic resistivity surveys. dataloggers and time-lapse cameras. With Other studies with the University of Alaska Anna Liljedahl’s polygonal ecosystems Fairbanks linking methane emissions to project, the work focused on analyzing permafrost degradation are ongoing. Together ecological responses to ice-wedge degradation with UAF, historic and prehistoric landslides at the Jago River site in northern Alaska. have been detected in the Fairbanks area. An Submitted by Torre Jorgenson effort is underway to map these features and understand their history and particularly their Geo-Watersheds Scientific relation to degrading permafrost. DGGS is Geo-Watersheds Scientific (GW Scientific) working with the Department Environmental was active in a number of collaborative Conservation to outline the interaction between research projects in 2020. A joint effort with permafrost terrain and pollutant transport, and Texas A&M University (TAMU), Geology and to summarize what contractors unfamiliar with Geophysics Department, the TAMU Geology permafrost need to know prior to starting work and Geophysics Department Advisory Council in permafrost regions. DGGS is involved in (GEODAC) and Campbell Scientific and the discussions related to the dynamics of gravel TAMU Soltis Center in Costa Rica helped removal from the Sagavanirktok River. Most establish a real-time monitoring network of the gravel is extracted from the west side of the facilities spring-fed water supply source and river near the Dalton Highway, but river system for the research facility. Another migration toward the highway may be the collaborative project was started in 2020 as a greatest threat to the road and access to joint effort between Campbell Scientific, the Prudhoe Bay in the future. Together with the Alaska Department of Transportation and USGS, DNR is examining permafrost Public Facilities, and the University of Alaska degradation on the Tanana River floodplain at Transportation Center (UATC) to develop and the Bonanza Creek LTER using seismic demonstrate lower-cost Road Weather sensors to detect regions of permafrost Information Systems (RWIS). UATC is degradation. DNR is using repeat lidar surveys 9

to confirm the finding’s spatial distribution by document may be broken up into several tracking surface collapse. The study of frozen sections in order to produce products that can debris lobes (FDLs) entered the next phase of be used by the engineering community. CRED investigations following relocation of the has several members assisting the U.S. Dalton Highway. The old road embankment Permafrost Association with the planning and was left in place with instruments to investigate organization of the 2021 Regional Conference the force of FDL as it pushes against the on Permafrost/19th International Conference on embankment. Cold Regions Engineering (RCOP/ICCRE) A new Navigating the New Arctic study is planned for October 24-29, 2021 at Boulder, underway to investigate the effects of Colorado. Additionally, CRED is coordinating infrastructure on the tundra ecosystem. DNR the reviews and publication of the full papers to will assist, in the Prudhoe Bay and Point Hope be presented at RCOP/ICCRE. areas, with repeat lidar elevation datasets to For 2020, Robert Tsigonis (Lifewater characterize surface collapse and hydrological Engineering Co., Fairbanks, AK) received the changes. A paper was published on the relation Harold R. Peyton Award for Cold Regions between the presence of tall shrubs, changing Engineering and Aaron Dotson (University of hydrology, microbiological environment and Alaska Anchorage) received the Can-Am Civil permafrost degradation along first order creeks Engineering Amity Award. Additionally, Yuri in the arctic tundra. The long-term implications Shur (University of Alaska Fairbanks) of talik development in the coldest regions in presented the Eb Rice Lecture to a packed Alaska are very poorly understood, but some of house in Fairbanks on January 15, 2020. the effects are already observed as increased Submitted by Ed Yarmak winter discharge and changing aufeis patterns in and along major Arctic rivers. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Submitted by Ronald Daanen The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE) Arctic project is American Society of Civil Engineers improving the representation of tundra The ASCE Cold Regions Engineering ecosystems in Earth System models. Our team Division (CRED) has five technical of more than 140 participants is doing this committees that assess and report on effects of through a coordinated series of model-inspired cold regions environments upon engineering investigations being conducted in permafrost design, construction, and operations. The landscapes near Utqiaġvik and Nome, Alaska. Publication Committee of CRED is responsible Our goal is to support the US Department of for editing the peer-reviewed Journal of Cold Energy by delivering a process-rich model in Regions Engineering (Jon Zufelt, editor) that which the evolution of Arctic ecosystems in a published 33 refereed papers in 2020 on topics changing climate can be modeled at the scale related to permafrost and seasonal frost, ice of a high-resolution Earth system model grid engineering, construction, environmental cell. A major outcome of our research so far has quality, snow and ice control, and cold regions been the integration of field campaigns, materials. The Frozen Ground Committee of modeling, and data synthesis to simulate the CRED completed the monograph Frost Action interactions between disturbance-related in Soils – Fundamentals and Mitigation in a processes and dynamic vegetation (e.g., Changing Climate (Sally Shoop, editor) and it shrubs) that are missing from or poorly is available from ASCE Publications. The represented in models. Six new source-code Environmental and Public Health Engineering modules will be evaluated against multiscale Committee of CRED is currently updating the measurements using the International Land Cold Regions Utilities Monograph that is Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) software widely used as a reference by engineers package. Select NGEE 2020 publications are working in permafrost regions. The update of appended. the monograph is a daunting task and the single 10

Furthermore, now in our ninth year, we are aerial system (UAS) operating in the committed more than ever to creating a safe, electromagnetic induction (EMI) regime to secure, open, and inclusive project where measure subsurface permafrost location, depth, people are welcomed, valued, and respected for and thickness. This sensor is meant to fill a gap their many talents. This commitment has between ground-based and large-scale, spurred our team amid the global COVID-19 helicopter-based conductivity sensors. A drone pandemic to continually consider and re- mounted sensor weighing less than 8 pounds evaluate our best practices for field work. We was developed that has acquired preliminary have learned to welcome feedback from team conductivity data from sites in New England members that span graduate students to senior that match existing models of ground response. scientists, from the indigenous communities Kevin Bjella is investigating improved where we are privileged to do our science, and methods to reduce extensive foundation from other scientific teams, large and small, construction while maintaining soils/rock in that also work across the tundra. Our the frozen state. Tests are being conducted to commitment to field safety reinforces the ascertain the effectiveness of expedient surface message that we trust our colleagues, and that insulation for maintaining the frozen state. they are empowered, accountable, physically Surveys are ongoing analyzing differential and emotionally safe and secure, free from frost heave occurring with horizontal harassment, that they respect local culture and infrastructure over warm ice-rich soils. Design knowledge, and that we benefit from and construction continues with Phase V continuous conversations, even when those expansion of the CRREL permafrost tunnel. conversations prove difficult. Our goal in this Tom Douglas continues to expand the area is to leave an enduring scientific legacy CRREL active layer monitoring network and where “everyone has the right to feel safe and with other CRREL researchers are working to secure...everyone is valued and has opinions characterize the microbiologic characteristics that matter…everyone deserves to be of the newly expanded Permafrost Tunnel in heard…everyone is responsible for ensuring a Fox. They are also investigating how surface respectful workplace.” water chemistry relates to permafrost thaw Submitted by Stan Wullschleger events in the High Arctic. Susan Frankenstein is developing methods U.S. Army Cold Regions Research to predict the seasonal state of the terrain. She and Engineering Laboratory is developing new thermal conductivity CRREL researchers, based in Fairbanks equations that incorporate the unique soil and Hanover, continued a wide range of field matrix found in the Arctic as well as new soil and laboratory investigations (individual strength algorithms. Results will be used to activities are presented in the alphabetical order determine vehicle mobility and infrared sensor of PI): performance for identifying buried objects. Robyn Barbato continues to study gas Jeremy Giovando and Chandler Engel exchange and emergent microbial communities developed a frozen soil model (FSIM) which from thawing permafrost. She and her predicts reduced infiltration based on soil colleagues are developing a geospatial temperature and volumetric moisture content. platform to predict soil activity in the Subarctic The development of FSIM is a breakthrough to and Arctic. estimate flow enhancement from frozen soils in Amanda Barker is continuing her efforts to hydrologic models (HEC-HMS). FSIM characterize the speciation of iron in allowed quantification of the potential flow permafrost on the North Slope of Alaska to enhancement for the Willow Creek watershed improve understanding of landscape-scale (eastern Idaho) from frozen soils during large permafrost active layer dynamics. precipitation events. Ben Barrowes is developing a ground Christopher Hiemstra continues collabor- conductivity meter mounted on an unmanned ations with NASA’s SnowEx effort to advance 11

remote sensing and measurements of snow in terrestrial environment was shown to play an boreal and Arctic terrains under unique frozen important role in lake dissolved organic matter ground and snow-canopy interactions. Efforts (DOM) biogeochemistry, and decreasing to quantify vegetation and ground surface connectivity driven by ongoing climate change impacts of thaw and localized thermokarst is impacting the chemistry and quality of lake since 2014 are ongoing. DOM in the Yukon Flats Basin. Researchers Theodore Letcher continues to evaluate also showed that lake biogeochemical simulated frozen soil processes in the processes were active through the winter, and authoritative Land Information System config- an under-ice survey of CO2 and CH4 in 13 lakes ureation of the NOAA land surface model reveals a wide range of concentrations and against in situ soil probe data contained within isotopic compositions that generally tracked the Soil Climate Analysis Network distributed landscape position, oxygenation, and organic across the CONUS. matter content. A novel methodology for Sally Shoop reports that CRREL estimating gross primary productivity (GPP) of participated in the recently published update of shallow lakes from remotely sensed lake color Army Regulation 70-38. It was a major rewrite was developed. of the AR, last updated in 1979, and reflects USGS researchers and collaborators changes in climatic criteria to address estimated potential future releases of mercury atmospheric, terrestrial, and biological (Hg) from thawing permafrost and to the consideration for the design and performance atmosphere using a coupled carbon-Hg of materiel for worldwide operation. Shoop mechanistic model under high (RCP8.5) and served as editor of the ASCE monograph on low (RCP4.5) greenhouse gas emissions frost action. scenarios. Results indicate minimal impacts Anna Wagner and her team, in collaboration under RCP4.5, but significant impacts at with Arctic Foundations Inc, Anchorage, are RCP8.5. undertaking research to advance the The USGS compiled and analyzed technology of thermosyphons for use in cold electrical resistivity and borehole NMR regions. The project includes testing several datasets to map spatial variability in permafrost configurations in the field and a full-scale and thaw features in interior Alaska. Additional laboratory experiment, retrofitting long-term passive seismic monitoring has been thermosyphons, and testing to increase the heat used to track changes in subsurface water and transfer capabilities of thermosyphons using ice content at high temporal resolution and reflective coatings. across a large area at a collapse-scar bog Submitted by Tom Douglas complex in Alaska. These geophysical results provide new understanding of how subsurface U.S. Geological Survey thermal and hydrologic conditions relate to in In 2020 the U.S. Geological Survey situ greenhouse gas concentrations and surface continued research in the public interest to fluxes, such as deep permafrost thaw beneath provide sound science for decision support to thermokarst lakes and methane hotspots. conserve land and water. There are USGS conducted integrated field approximately 25 permafrost researchers at the observations and modeling investigations to USGS located across the United States in assess the vulnerability of continuous multiple science centers and funded by permafrost in boreal Alaska, generally multiple programs. USGS researchers considered resilient, to talik formation after advanced the understanding of carbon wildfire. Talik development beneath the Dall dynamics of lake environments in interior City Fire 2004 burn scar was confirmed to Alaska and Canada in partnership with extend 4-5 meters below the surface using a colleagues as part of the NASA Arctic-Boreal combination of noninvasive and borehole Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE). geophysical methods. Comparison of this Hydrologic connectivity between lakes and the study’s findings with coarse scale panarctic 12

modeling projections of talik formation in the University Reports study region revealed that localized talik formation outpaced predictions by > 100 years, George Washington University even under the high emission scenario, RCP GWU is responsible for coordinating the 8.5. This study’s findings raise critical issues Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring regarding representation of extreme permafrost (CALM) program that comprises a network of thaw phenomena in large-scale predictive earth sites that has been funded by NSF since the system models. A new USGS project, termed early 1990s to monitor active layer and near- ABRUPT, was begun to examine the surface permafrost response to climate change. implications of talik formation on greenhouse There are approximately 150 actively reporting gas fluxes, particularly in the winter season. CALM sites throughout the polar and select USGS, in collaboration with National Park midlatitude regions maintained by participants Service and university researchers, continued from 11 countries. Nikolay Shiklomanov (GW) to examine how permafrost controls surface is the lead PI on the project assisted by senior water discharge and temperature and, thus, personnel, Dmitry Streletskiy, Frederick controls biological communities in streams in Nelson, Nathan Moore, and Anna Klene, and the Brooks Range. USGS is evaluating includes Kelsey Nyland as a GWU permafrost degradation and aggradation related Postdoctoral Scientist. In anticipation of the to channel migration in the Colville River first southern regional conference on Delta, including mapping the probability to Permafrost (SouthCOP) held in December encounter taliks with high pore-water salinity. 2019, there was a concerted effort to update In the Eastern North Slope, USGS is assessing records from Antarctic sites (CALM-south). the interactions between permafrost and water During 2020, despite limited access to CALM to distinguish shallow and deep groundwater sites for many participants due to COVID-19, flowpaths and the influence on water quality there are some summer data available thanks to and quantity. collaboration with indigenous and other USGS continues to be a part of the larger communities local to CALM sites in Alaska permafrost research community by and Russia. Additionally, GW Geography contributing to several international synthesis Masters student Tanni Sarker, successfully efforts to: (1) describe the role of groundwater completed and defended her thesis in May flow processes in the Arctic initiated by 2020 which examined land cover and land use permafrost thaw and the direct impacts on change in areas of development and stream discharge, constituent transport, abandonment in the Russian European North. infrastructure damage, and Northern water A pan-Arctic infrastructure database was supply, (2) develop a conceptual framework for assembled and, with CALM data, is being used hypothesis-driven investigations of controls on to evaluate impacts of permafrost degradation the biogeochemical response to thaw across on infrastructure. More information about the diverse northern regions, (3) monitor a suite of program and recent data updates can be found above ground and subsurface environmental at the program website. variables on the North Slope of Alaska through the USGS Climate and Permafrost Observing Submitted by K.E. Nyland, D.A. Network. Many of these permafrost research Streletskiy, and N.I. Shiklomanov and monitoring efforts are explained in a new Michigan State University USGS fact sheet available in 2021. Submitted by Mark Waldrop Fritz Nelson continued a program of research with MSU graduate student Raven Mitchell and recent graduates Clayton Queen (MS 2018) and Kelsey Nyland (PhD 2019), including publications and CALM data- management activities. We managed to make

progress in 2020 despite COVID-19, primarily planning small-scale online workshops with through Skype and Zoom. Our field season was specific geographic focuses on the North Slope severely curtailed by the pandemic. Raven, Borough (NSB) and Yukon-Kuskokwin Delta, who defended her M.S. thesis in June and is and specific audience (industry, government, now in MSU’s doctoral program, recently won and local communities). The smaller and an award in the AGU Cryosphere Section’s targeted Zoom-based workshops will occur in “Flash Freeze” competition for her proposed the spring 2021 and will be used to prepare for work on periglacial geomorphology in northern the larger in-person workshop in late 2021. A British Columbia. Raven and Fritz were paper on the review and synthesis of recipients of the American Association of permafrost coastal erosion remediations was Geographers’ Melvin Marcus Award for their published on Environmental Research Letters. work on cryoplanation landforms. We A collaborative NNA PIPER project by PSU, published a series of papers about UAF, MST, and U Idaho continued in 2020. cryoplanation and nivation in Canadian The goal of this research project is to Journal of Earth Sciences, Quaternary understand the complex interrelationships and Research, and Permafrost and Periglacial mutual impacts of continued climate change in Processes (Nyland et al.; Queen et al.). A the Arctic among the following components: biographical article about Stephen Taber’s permafrost degradation and coastal erosion, 1935 work in Alaska is in press with civil infrastructure and development, and Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, and community well-being and socio-demographic another paper about the late MSU Professor and cultural resilience. A new NSF project Dieter Brunnschweiler’s landmark work in “SitS: Collaborative Research: Understand and 1964 on altiplanation in Alaska is in review. forecast long-term variations of in-situ Vasily Tolmanov (M.S. 2020, Moscow State geophysical and geomechanical characteristics University) will join us this coming year in the of degrading permafrost in the Arctic” was MSU doctoral program and will participate in initiated with collaboration of PSU, UAF, and both our CALM and geomorphology projects. Virginia Tech. The goal of this project is to Submitted by Fritz Nelson understand and forecast long-term variations of in-situ geophysical and geomechanical Penn State University characteristics of the active layer and In 2020, Ming Xiao and collaborators permafrost in Arctic Alaska using innovative continued two ongoing research projects and distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) technology initiated a new project on permafrost coastal and modeling. erosion, permafrost degradation and its impact Submitted by Ming Xiao on infrastructure and community, and in-situ measurements using distributed acoustic University of Alaska Anchorage, sensing. The project team planned to hold the Department of Civil Engineering “2020 Workshop on Arctic Coastal UAA, led by Thomas Ravens, has Communities, Hazards Remediation, and developed an arctic capable coastal Resilience. The workshop was organized by geomorphic change model called Arctic X four NSF Arctic network projects: PCE-RCN; beach. The model couples the open-source, Arctic Network for Coastal Community non-arctic coastal geometric change model, X Hazards, Observations, and Integrated beach, with a thermal model and determines the Research (AHCHOR RCN); Arctic COASTal potential sediment transport and geomorphic Community and Environmental Resilience change at the coast considering storm surge International Interdisciplinary Research height and wave condition. The thermal model Coordination Network (Arctic-COAST RCN); determines the temperature and phase of the and Permafrost Coastal Systems Network coastal soil and sediments. Potential (PerCS-Net), but was postponed to late 2021. geomorphic change determined by X beach is Currently, the organizing committee is only actualized if the soil and sediment are 14

determined to be thawed by the thermal model. Borough planners to collaboratively produce The model enables the forecasts of arctic adaptive housing strategies and actionable coastal erosion and serves as a tool for knowledge that is relevant to Point Lay and designing measures to control Arctic coastal other arctic villages. A permafrost and erosion using thermal and mechanical infrastructure symposium will bring together measures. US-Canadian science and engineering Another area of research, led by Joey Yang, expertise. is the local subsidence of deep permafrost Due to the severe limitations on travel surrounding oil wells on the North Slope. imposed by the COVID-19, a single nine-day Extensive laboratory testing was conducted to self-contained expedition was made to the analyze the physical and mechanical properties vicinity of Prudhoe Bay at Deadhorse from 12– of permafrost cores. Models of permafrost-well 20 August 2020. Participation was limited to casing interactions were established to predict four people and included Donald A. (Skip) the thaw subsidence, soil-casing interface Walker (IAB, UAF), Mikhail Kanevskiy (INE, behavior, and stress/deformation behavior of UAF), post doc Helena Bergstedt Post- well casing. Yang also initiated a project to Doctoral Fellow in Remote Sensing of document the permafrost degradation and Permafrost Landscapes (INE), and graduate associated deformation or failure in the ground student Emily Watson-Cook (Department of as well as the built infrastructure in Bethel, Biology and Wildlife, UAF). The project Alaska. This project employs geophysical established a field camp at Mile 405 on the testing, including Electric Resistivity Dalton Highway. Tomography, Ground-Penetrating Radar Several key publications appeared in 2020 survey, Multi-Channel Spectral Analysis of (Frost et al. on Arctic greening and Raynolds et Seismic Wave (SASW), and ground al. on landscape impacts in the Arctic National temperature monitoring to map the permafrost Wildlife Refuge. and local thaw. Distresses and damage to roads Submitted by Donald “Skip” Walker and buildings will be surveyed to understand the impact of permafrost degradation on the University of New Hampshire built environment. Arctic researchers and students at Submitted by Zhaohui (Joey) Yang University of New Hampshire (UNH), University of Alaska Fairbanks, representing the physical, biological, and social sciences, have organized around a research and Alaska Geobotany Center scholarship initiative: UNH Arctic, and Under the NSF grant “The Navigating the includes members working directly on New Arctic: Evolution and adapting to change permafrost-related activities. UNH continues in Ice-Rich Permafrost Systems (NNA-IRPS)”, to coordinate the New England Arctic Network we are expanding studies in the Prudhoe Bay (NEAN), a regional initiative that combines the region and initiating studies at Point Lay. Three academic expertise in Arctic research across main observatories are planned: Roadside IRP New England. Under the leadership of Ruth Observatories (RIRPOs) and Natural IRP Varner, UNH was part of a $12.5M award from Observatory remote from infrastructure NSF for a Biology Integration Institute (UNH (NIRPO) at Prudhoe Bay and Village IRP subaward $3.6M), called EMergent Ecosystem Observatory (VIRPO) at Point Lay. Response to ChanGE Biology Integration Researchers from the UAF Institute of Institute (EMERGE) focused on feedbacks Northern Engineering, Geophysical Institute, between the biology and geochemistry of Institute of Arctic Biology, and International emergent gas fluxes from thawing permafrost Arctic Research Center will work with and the peatland in northern Sweden. Varner co- Point Lay community, the Cold Climate authored five permafrost-related papers and Housing Research Center, the North Slope presented an invited keynote at Bolin Days Regional Housing Authority, and North Slope 2020. Alexander Shiklomanov and the UNH 15

Water Systems Analysis Group led a team to Perryman published on methane oxidation in develop a new online data visualization and permafrost peatlands. manipulation system for the pan-Arctic—Tree Submitted by Jessica Ernakovich on the Ring Integrated System for Hydrology behalf of UNH Arctic (https://trish.sr.unh.edu/)— as part of an NSF OPP-funded project. Michael Palace continues Network Reports his work on remote sensing of boreal forests Permafrost Carbon Network and peatlands with a collaborative NASA ABoVE project. Claire Treat moved to a new The Permafrost Carbon Network hosted its th position at the Alfred Wegener Helmholtz 10 Annual Meeting in a virtual format on Institute in Potsdam, Germany, to study the November 10, 2020. We welcomed more than role of non-growing season processes in the 200 participants from across the globe and methane and nitrous oxide budgets in pristine discussed what is the current, bottom line northern ecosystems. Steve Frolking continues provided by science synthesis on topics central to work on a Navigating the New Arctic (NSF) to the permafrost carbon-climate feedback? project related to the patterns and processes of This included brainstorming where there is peat expansion in the Arctic. Jessica convergence and where there is controversy Ernakovich and a team from Dartmouth, the and where new surprises could arise. Four National Center for Atmospheric Research, and panels were structured around the topics of: UNH were awarded $1.5M from NSF Office of 1) How much carbon is stored in the Polar Programs to study plant–microbe– permafrost region and how vulnerable is it? mineral feedbacks in permafrost soils under 2) How much carbon will be released simulated thaw on the North Slope. Ernakovich through gradual climate warming and abrupt continued to lead the Permafrost Microbiome permafrost thaw? Network and to collaborate with the Permafrost 3) Are increases in Arctic carbon emissions Carbon Network (PCN) as part of the steering already occurring? committee. 4) Integrating permafrost science into Stacey Doherty successfully defended her climate policy. master’s focusing on the microbial ecology of Major science synthesis highlights from the permafrost. N. Niloufar Kashi, PhD candidate, PCN in 2020 include a synthesis with a first is studying soil nutrients with permafrost estimate of thermokarst (abrupt thaw) carbon thaw. Kathryn Bennett completed her MS emissions using numerical models (Turetsky et degree on the isotopic composition of dissolved al.). Another science highlight shows the that and emitted CH4 from thaw ponds in northern widely-used land models project near-surface Sweden. She is co-leading a synthesis with drying of the terrestrial Arctic despite increases Varner and the PCN on stable carbon isotope in the net water balance driven by climate emissions from high latitude ecosystems. M. change (Andresen et al.). A third synthesis Florencia Fahnestock, PhD candidate, product assessed the potential for mobilization published a paper on mercury dynamics in of old soil carbon after permafrost thaw (Estop‐ Stordalen Mire and is co-leading a synthesis of Aragonés et al.). mercury in permafrost with the PCN network. Submitted by Christina Schaedel Sophia Burke defended her PhD on the Permafrost Young Researchers seasonal and interannual controls of ebullitive flux from a subarctic thaw pond system. Bianca Network (PYRN) Rodríguez-Cardona defended her PhD on As indicated above, two PRYN members carbon and nitrogen dynamics in fluvial are now formally represented in the USPA: systems across biomes and participated in the new Board member Dr. Helena Bergstedt and 2020 Polar Literacy Principles Workshop Nicholas Hasson, University of Alaska (Department of Marine and Coastal Science, graduate student on the Membership Rutgers University). PhD candidate Clarice Committee. At the international level, a group 16

of PYRN members joined other Early Career designed for data holders and data users to be Researchers (ECR) from the PAst Global sent out in the coming fiscal year. The PCT also changES Early-Career Network (PAGES- held a monthly seminar on the results of a ECN), the United States Association of Polar Denali Commission report, Statewide Early Career Scientists (USAPECS), and the Threat Assessment, the aim of which was to Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) to understand threats of permafrost thaw, successfully complete a group review of the including flooding and coastal erosion, Second Order Draft (SOD) of the IPCC AR6. on infrastructure and communities. A meeting This review was a continuation of past efforts, in February on an NSF-funded Navigating the and many of the ECRs have continued on to New Arctic (NNA) project with a focus on organize a group review of the second order ground ice aimed to integrate plot-level data draft of the WGII contribution. For more with landscape and regional-level change information on the project, see the APECS while also coordinating, collaborating, and co- newsletter on its website developing knowledge through (https://www.apecs.is). As a result of COVID- other circumpolar collaboration efforts such as 19 restrictions, PYRN launched an online Rapid Arctic Transitions due to Infrastructure seminar series that can be found on the PYRN and Climate (RATIC) and Terrestrial- YouTube channel. The first presentation was Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the by Evan Wilcox (Wilfrid Laurier University Study of Arctic Climate (T-MOSAiC). The and Alfred Wegener Institute) on Influences of NNA project is also working with village and Thermokarst Lake Water Balances. The second regional partners on the North Slope of Alaska was a presentation by Rúna Magnússon to better address the needs of the people living (Wageningen University, NL) on how Extreme on rapidly thawing. summer precipitation increases permafrost Submitted by Meredith LaValley (IARPC) thawing depth. Hopefully this series will continue, as more research is conducted by ECRs. PYRN continues to provide updates on its website of permafrost activities around the globe, including the posting of jobs, student opportunities, research positions, conferences, and scholarships. Submitted by Matthew Whitley, retiring USPA PYRN Board Member and Representative Permafrost Collaboration Team The Permafrost Collaboration Team (PCT) of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) focuses on advancing understanding of processes controlling permafrost dynamics and the impacts on ecosystems, infrastructure, and climate feedbacks. During the 2020 reporting period, the PCT made progress toward improving understanding of ground ice content of permafrost across the Arctic. The PCT team leaders (Miriam Jones, USGS; Christina Schädel, NAU; and Benjamin Jones, UAF) organized a smaller group of international permafrost researchers to develop a survey 17

In Memoriam to U.S. Permafrost Colleagues

Oscar Ferrians, USGS, December 19, 2019 Memorial Link

Wayne Tobiasson, USA CRREL, August 14, 2020 Memorial Link

Corporate and Institutional Members and Sponsors We thank our past and new Corporate and Institutional members, sponsors and donors both in Alaska and in the “Lower 48” for their continued involvement and generous support.

Links and Citations Overview • PMA https://www.uspermafrost.org/monthly-alerts.shtml • AGU Abstracts 2020 https://www.uspermafrost.org/publications/AGUindexs/AGU_Fall_2020_Permafrost_Ab stracts_Index.pdf • RCOP 2021 https://www.uspermafrost.org/21rcop/ Institutional Members Geophysical Institute Permafrost Laboratory, University of Alaska • www.permafrostwatch.org • https://permamap.gi.alaska.edu/ • https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005355 • Debolskiy, M.et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005355 • Romanovsky, V. E. et al. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0086.1 • Hueffer, K. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-020-01474-z • Cheţan, M.-A. 10.3390/rs12111863 • Euskirchen, E.et al. doi.org/10.1002/fee.2176 Institute of Northern Engineering, WERC, UAF • Engram et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0762-8 • Jones et al. https://doi.org/10.25923/e47w-dw52 - https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report- Card/Report-Card-2020/ArtMID/7975/ArticleID/904/Coastal-Permafrost-Erosion • Jones et al. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748- 9326/ab80f1- https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab80f1 • Stuefer et al. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019WR025621 University of Colorado, National Snow and Ice Data Center • Schaefer et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18398-5 International Arctic Research Center • Iwahana et al. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/1/22 • Cooper et al. https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/95/12/fiz166/5593952 • Zhi-Ping Zhong et al. https://msystems.asm.org/content/5/3/e00246-20

University of Virginia, Depart. Environmental Sciences • https://www.arcus.org/nna/projects/2022639 Woodwell Climate Research Center • https://www.woodwellclimate.org/research-area/arctic/ • Rodenhizer, H, et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005528 • Yonghong, Yi et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5861-2020 • Zolkos, S. et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11010021 • Dieleman, C.M. et al. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15158 • Liljedahl, A. et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00050-1 American Geosciences Institute • https://www.americangeosciences.org/policy/critical-needs/2020 Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies • https://snowstudies.org/ 19

University of Texas El Paso, Systems Ecology Lab • Arctic Research Mapping Application https://armap.org/ • US Arctic Observing Network www.arcticobservingviewer.org Corporate Members Alaska Ecoscience • Burn, C. R. and M. T. Jorgenson ISBN 9781602233973 • Jorgenson, M. T. et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG005824 • Jorgenson, M. T. et al. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-54746-2_5 • Raynolds, M. K. et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2143 • Wells, A. F. et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-020-01154-x • Wickland, K. P. et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089894 ABR Inc. • Frost and Timling https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00050-1 • Arctic Report Card 2020 https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2020 • State of the Climate Report 2020 https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202008 Geo-Watersheds Scientific. • Soltis Center Data Network http://soltiscentercostarica.org/ Organizations/Agencies Alaska Department of Natural Resources • Liljedahl et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00050-1 • Miandad et al. https://doi.org/10.2113/EEG-2268 • Witharana et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2020.10.010 American Society of Civil Engineers • Shoop https://ascelibrary.org/doi/book/10.1061/9780784415085 Oak Ridge National Laboratory • NGEE Arctic web site: https://ngee.ornl.gov • https://eesa.lbl.gov/projects/ngee-arctic/ • Andresennet al. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-445-2020 • Debolskiy et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005355 • Herndon et al. https://dx.doi/10.1039/D0EM00142B • Jan and Painte https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8ec4 • Krassovski et al. https://doi.org/10.13679/j.advps.2020.0008 • Lara et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18768-z • Philben et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005512 • Wales et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1109-2020 U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory • Douglas https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-020-0130-4 • Shoop https://ascelibrary.org/doi/book/10.1061/9780784415085 U.S. Geological Survey • Johnston et al. https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/lno.11417 • Kuhn et al. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aba46f • James et al. https://doi.org/10.5066/P9I6VUQV • Walter Anthony et al. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc848

U.S. Geological Survey Continued • Rey et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087565 • Mackenzie et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-132 • Tank et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.2057 • Urban and Clow https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ds1092 • Fact Sheet https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20203058 Universities George Washington University • CALM https://www2.gwu.edu/~calm/ Michigan State University • Nyland et al. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020QuRes..97..157N/abstract • Nyland and Nelson https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2019-0176 • Queen et al. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ppp.2083 Penn State University • Min Liew et al. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9387 • https://nna-piper.org/ • https://pce-rcn.org/ • PERCS-Net http://permafrostcoasts.org/ University of Alaska, Alaska Geobotany Center • Frost et al. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0086 • Raynolds et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2143 University of New Hampshire • Tree Ring Integrated System for Hydrology https://trish.sr.unh.edu/ • Doherty, S. J. et al. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.596589 • Fahnestock, M. F. et al. https://www.geochemicalperspectivesletters.org/article1922 • Perryman, C. R. et al. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233297 • Perryman, C. R. et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005526 • Rodríguez-Cardona et al. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-65520-0 • Pascual, D. et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01381-1 • Saito, K., et al. DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-50930-9 • Shiklomanov, A.I. et al. DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-50930-9 • Yang, D. et al. DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-50930-9 • Zolkos, S. et al. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b07145 Networks Permafrost Carbon Network • http://www.permafrostcarbon.org/publications.html • http://www.permafrostcarbon.org/past%20meetings.html • Andresen, C.G. et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-445-2020 • Estop‐Aragonés, C. et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GB006672 • Turetsky, M.R. et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0526-0 Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) • APECS https://www.apecs.is • https://pyrn.arcticportal.org/

Permafrost Collaboration Team (PCT) • 2020 Annual Report https://www.iarpccollaborations.org/members/documents/20038 • PCT Team Page https://www.iarpccollaborations.org/members/people/teams/2663 • About IARPC https://www.iarpccollaborations.org/about.html • IARPC Request Account https://www.iarpccollaborations.org/request-account.html

In Memoriam of USPA Members Oscar Ferrians • https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/tributes/in_memoriam/oscar-john- ferrians/article_b1908ee0-aeaf-5dcd-9a10-075a261b27c2.html Wayne Tobiasson • https://www.vnews.com/wayne-tobiasson-obit-vn-082020-35816000

2020 USPA-PYRN Education Fund AGU Awardee

I am Sayedeh Sara Sayedi, a PhD candidate at Brigham Young University. My research is about subsea permafrost carbon stocks and climate change sensitivity. With the help of the USPA, I had the opportunity to present at the AGU2020. Even though AGU2020 was completely virtual, it was a great experience. During our session, I presented my work and had the opportunity to learn about others’ research. More than 70 participants were in our session and we had a great discussion at the end with all presenters and participants. It is always great to meet other researchers and become familiar with the latest research that is conducted around the world. My name is Raven Mitchell and I am a PhD Student at Michigan State University. This fall I had the great opportunity to virtually attend the AGU annual meeting. I presented two posters where I received valuable input from Arctic researchers via the live chat forum. This feedback will help to improve my research going forward. In addition, I participated in the Student Flash Freeze Competition sponsored by the Cryosphere Specialty group where I was awarded a mini-grant to help fund my future research. I am grateful to the USPA for supporting my participation in this important experience. My name is Allison Trcka and I am a Masters student at Portland State University. I am researching the topography and climate of rock glaciers. My experience at the AGU meetings was unique. Due to work, I was not able to attend most of the meeting. Typically, I would have missed sessions that I was interested in, but due to the meeting being virtual I was able to go back and attend all the sessions that I missed. It was nice to go back and re-watch and read the oral presentations and posters as many times that I want.

My name is Mary Farina and I am a PhD student at Montana State University. I attended the virtual AGU Fall Meeting 2020 through support from USPA UPEF. The virtual conference format provided a unique opportunity to connect with others in the permafrost community and spend more time with individual presentations and posters. I presented on the resilience and vulnerability of the regional carbon sink in Alaska and Canada. This was a helpful experience in terms of learning new ways to convey research findings in pre-recorded presentations, and I received valuable feedback on flux model comparisons. This was a great chance to connect with researchers from many different institutes!

The USPA welcomes all in the Permafrost and Cryosphere research and engineering communities to contribute, attend, and benefit from the upcoming 2021 Regional Conference on Permafrost and 19thInternational Conference on Cold Regions Engineering. The Conference will be held virtually from October 24-29, 2021. October 24 will be focused on the American Society of Civil Engineering and Permafrost Young Researchers Meetings while the remainder of the week will consist of roughly four hours of presentations, panels, and interactive events. A call for abstracts is planned in March, 2021. Registration will open soon after. This Regional Conference is an official conference of the International Permafrost Association and we look forward to welcoming participants from many of the 26 member countries. Dr. Thomas Douglas – Conference Chair

https://www.uspermafrost.org/21rcop/

The USPA Thanks! Our 2021 RCOP Sponsors Please consider joining the below sponsors.