FROZEN GROUND The News Bulletin of the International Permafrost Association Number 29, December 2005 INTERNATIONAL PERMAFROST ASSOCIATION The International Permafrost Association, founded in 1983, has as its objectives to foster the dissemination of knowledge concerning permafrost and to promote cooperation among persons and national or international organisations engaged in scientific investigation and engineering work on permafrost. Membership is through national Adhering Bodies and Associate Members. The IPA is governed by its officers and a Council consisting of representatives from 26 Adhering Bodies and Associates having interests 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 organise and coordinate research activities and special projects. The IPA became an Affiliated Organisation of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in July 1989. Beginning in 1996 the IPA and the International Geographical Union (IGU) developed an Agreement of Cooperation, thus making IPA an affiliate of the IGU. The Association’s primary responsibilities are convening International Permafrost Conferences, undertaking special projects such as preparing databases, maps, bibliographies, and glossaries, and coordinating international field programmes and networks. Conferences were held in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A., 1963; in Yakutsk, Siberia, 1973; in Edmonton, Canada, 1978; in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1983; in Trondheim, Norway, 1988; in Beijing, China, 1993; in Yellowknife, Canada, 1998, and in Zurich, Switzerland, 2003. The Ninth conference will be in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008. Field excursions are an integral part of each Conference, and are organised by the host country.

Executive Committee 2003-2008 Council Members Argentina President Professor Jerry Brown, USA Austria Belgium Vice Presidents Canada Professor Charles Harris, U.K. China Dr. Georgy Z. Perlshtein, Russia Denmark Members Finland Professor Hans-W. Hubberten, Germany France Mr. Don W. Hayley, Canada Germany Professor Zhu Yuanlin, China Iceland Italy International Secretariat Dr. Hanne H. Christiansen, Norway Japan Dr. Angélique Prick, Norway Kazakhstan Mongolia Standing Committees The Netherlands Data, Information and Communication New Zealand International Advisory Committee for ICOP Norway Working Groups Poland Antarctic Permafrost and Periglacial Environments Russia Coastal and Offshore Permafrost Spain Cryosol Sweden Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in High Mountains Switzerland Isotopes and Geochemistry of Permafrost United Kingdom Mapping and Modelling of Mountain Permafrost United States of America Periglacial Landforms, Processes, and Climate Permafrost and Climate Associate Members Permafrost Astrobiology Portugal Permafrost Engineering South Africa

Cover: Offshore permafrost drilling at Cape Mamontov Klyk, Western Laptev Sea (Siberia). During the Russian-German Expedition COAST a transect consisting of five boreholes from the coast to the offshore (12 km off the coast) was drilled and cored from the sea ice. Photograph taken April 14, 2005 by Volker Rachold, Alfred Wegener Institute, Research Department Potsdam. See the Coastal and Offshore Permafrost Working Group report for more information. FROZEN GROUND THE NEWS BULLETIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL PERMAFROST ASSOCIATION NUMBER 29 • DECEMBER 2005

Frozen Ground, the News Bulletin of the Inter- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT 2 national Permafrost Association, is published annually. GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ACTIVITIES The IPA is a non-governmental association of national organisations and associates representing THE INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR: STATUS OF 26 countries. The success of the bulletin depends upon the willingness of IPA participants to supply PLANNED PERMAFROST ACTIVITIES 3 information for publication. News items from any SECOND EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON PERMAFROST 5 IPA participant or others are very welcome, as are interesting photographs. To submit news items REPORTS OF THE 16TH AND 17TH IPA COUNCIL 6 or photos please contact: EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SUMMARIES 9 The IPA Secretariat The University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS P.O. Box 156 WORKING GROUPS AND STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS 10 N-9171 Longyearbyen NORWAY NEWS FROM MEMBERS 18 Email: [email protected] Frozen Ground is also available as PDF file on IPA web site (http://www.geo.uio.no/IPA/). OTHER NEWS 42 This issue of Frozen Ground was compiled and edited by Angélique Prick. PLANNING CALENDAR 46 The IPA Secretariat is supported by The Research Council of Norway and The University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS. MEMBERS/NATIONAL CONTACTS/WORKING GROUPS 47 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

A number of notably activities took place this past year. gions specialty and glaciological conferences (see calendar The Second European Conference on Permafrost was held for permafrost-related meetings). The IPA Council is con- in Potsdam and included meetings of the IPA Council sidering changing the frequency of its international con- and the Executive Committee. In addition to discussing ference from every five to four years with at least one offi- future changes to the Constitution, the Council approved cial regional conference during the interim period. The the new membership category of Associate Member. Por- method of electing the Executive Committee is also un- tugal has become the first Associate Member, and con- der consideration as is the rotation of its officers (see sum- gratulations to New Zealand for becoming a new Adher- maries of Council meetings). Coordination and collabo- ing Member. ration of activities with other international unions and Members of our international community participated societies are continuing, including those with IUGS, IGU, in conferences including: the International Conference on CliC, IPY and the recently formed IUGG Commission Periglacial Geomorphology; the Arctic Science Summit on Cryospheric Sciences. Week; the First CliC Conference; three conferences in As announced earlier the Research Council of Nor- Russia (the International Pushchino Conference, the Third way awarded a grant to UNIS that enabled the employ- Russian Conference on Geocryology; the International ment of a half-time position in the IPA Secretariat. Conference on Cryopedology); the Sixth International Angélique Prick occupies the position and is responsible Conference on Geomorphology (IAG); the Second Inter- for preparing Frozen Ground, among other duties. Hanne national Conference on Arctic Research Planning, the Fifth Christiansen continues her role of overall management of International Conference on Gas Hydrates; and the an- the Secretariat and is taking a lead in the IPA IPY perma- nual AGU and EGU meetings. frost education and outreach activities together with the Planning for the International Polar Year (2007-2008) University of the Arctic. The IUGS is supporting our ini- resulted in acceptance by the IPY Joint Committee of three tial efforts for planning the IPY and Planet Earth activi- coordinated permafrost projects : the Permafrost Observa- ties. tory Project, the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, Details of many of the above-mentioned activities are Periglacial and Soil Environments Project and the Arctic presented in the following pages. Circum-Polar Coastal Observatory Network. Representa- tives of many of these projects met in Copenhagen in November to develop plans for field activities, outreach, education and data management. Included were discus- sions of our new carbon project and participation in the International Year of Planet Earth. One IPY-IPA legacy will be to encourage the development of the next genera- tion of permafrost researchers. The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) is in its early development stage and it plans to encourage communications and col- laborations among undergraduates and graduate students, post docs and other younger researchers and educators. Plans for the first Asian Conference on Permafrost in Lanzhou, China, in August 2006 are well advanced. We encourage multi-disciplinary participation in the confer- ence and field excursion. Although the abstract deadline is January 30, contact the organizers for the latest infor- The IPA Executive Committee at the EUCOP II mation and possible late participation (www.casnw.net/ Conference, Potsdam. permafrost/home.html). From left to right: Vice President Prof. Charles Harris, The coming year will be busy and critical to the future Secretariat Leader Dr. Hanne H. Christiansen, Member of the IPA. In addition to the conference in China, we Prof. Hans-W. Hubberten, President Dr. Jerry Brown, plan to participate in other international conferences in- Vice President Dr. Georgy Z. Perlshstein, Secretariat cluding the annual conference in Russia (Tyumen), the Officer Dr. Angélique Prick, Member Don W. Hayley. international soil congress, and the international cold re- Photograph provided by Hanne H. Christiansen.

2 Frozen Ground GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ACTIVITIES

THE INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR: STATUS OF PLANNED PERMAFROST ACTIVITIES Jerry Brown and Hanne H. Christiansen, The IPA Secretariat at the University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway ([email protected])

The International Polar Year (2007-2008) provides a will continue to be reported at existing CALM and other unique opportunity for scientists and engineers along with sites. Our IPY Legacy for the TSP project is to establish a younger researchers from around the world to increase permanent International Network of Permafrost Observa- our knowledge of permafrost occurrence and dynamics, tories (INPO). The following countries have identified and thus contribute to the IPY legacy. This following is projects or plans to observe and report their results: Ar- the second annual report to keep our readers informed of gentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, our IPY plans and progress (see Frozen Ground 28, pages Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, 3-4). In brief, the IPY is intended to attract and develop a Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Swit- new generation of polar researchers, engineers and logis- zerland, United Kingdom, and the United States tics experts, and to engage the awareness, interest and (www.gtnp.org). understanding of schoolchildren, the general public and The Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, decision-makers worldwide in the purpose and value of Periglacial and Soil Environments Project (ANTPAS), polar research and monitoring. coordinated by Jan Boelhouwers, is aimed at integrating During 2005 the permafrost community submitted existing and new data on the distribution, thickness, age, three focused programmes to the Joint Committee for IPY. history and physical and geochemical properties of per- The Joint Committee approved the three activities as co- mafrost, soils and the active-layer on the Antarctic conti- ordination projects that include approximately 150 indi- nent and sub-Antarctic islands. A monitoring network, a viduals from the 26 countries represented by International regional subset of GTN-P and consisting of borehole tem- Permafrost Association (see IPA and IPY web pages for peratures, active-layer thickness, and periglacial and soil details). Additional individual projects are expected to be observations, will be established along selected environ- added early in 2006. The three permafrost programmes mental gradients. A draft soil manual and protocol for are: the Southern Hemisphere CALM (S-CALM) have been • The Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribu- prepared. A series of soils, periglacial and permafrost maps tion to the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) [IPY will be prepared. Countries involved include Argentina, Project no. 50] Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Por- • The Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, tugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Periglacial and Soil Environments Project (ANTPAS) and the United States (http://erth.waikato.ac.nz/antpas). [IPY Project no. 33] The Arctic Circum-Polar Coastal Observatory Net- • The Arctic Circum-Polar Coastal Observatory Net- work (ACCO-Net), coordinated by Volker Rachold, pro- work (ACCO-Net) [IPY Project no. 90] poses to develop a coordinated monitoring programme The Permafrost Observatory Project (TSP), initially incorporating diverse regions and providing site-specific, coordinated by Jerry Brown, plans to develop a spatially fine-scale baseline and time-series data, and to facilitate distributed set of observations on past and present status local and circum-Arctic studies. To address these issues, it of permafrost temperatures and active layer thicknesses. is proposed that an internationally coordinated circum- Emphasis is on permafrost temperatures since there is cur- Arctic network of coastal and marginal seas observatories rently no global database that defines the thermal state of (~20 key sites including deltas and estuaries of major Si- permafrost (TSP) for a specific time period (snapshot). berian and North American rivers) be established based The TSP data set will serve as a baseline for the assess- on ecoregion representation criteria. The sites will be loci ment of the rate of change of permafrost temperatures for multi-disciplinary studies and will include sensitive and permafrost distribution, to validate climate model areas with varying degrees of human impact. Initial coun- scenarios, and to support process research in order to im- tries involved include Canada, Denmark, Germany, the prove our understanding of permafrost dynamics. TSP Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and the United States measurements are a field component of the WMO/GCOS (www.awi-potsdam.de/acd/acconet). Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) that Our IPY permafrost «legacies» are to encourage the also includes the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring training of a new generation of researchers and to pro- (CALM) network. Depth of thaw and soil temperatures duce the «snapshot» of existing permafrost conditions as a

Frozen Ground 3 baseline for future change assessment. Educational, plans to contribute to new research activities along outreach and data management activities are key elements transects in the Northern Hemisphere that represent the for our IPY permafrost activities. Data sharing and acces- range of ecoclimatic and permafrost regions, and comple- sibility is an important element of the IPY and the IPA mented by two transects in the Subantarctic-Antarctic plans to adhere to these policies. Mark Parsons, co-chair region with additional altitudinal transects in high-alpine of the IPY Data Management Committee, will work mountains. An IPA-CAPP scoping workshop (March closely with IPA to insure preservation and access of IPA 2005) and an ESF-funded science planning workshop data. (November 2005) were held at the University of Stock- In January 2005, Hanne Christiansen and colleagues holm. CAPP contributes to the Global Carbon Project submitted an Expression of Interest for an international (see Frozen Ground 28, page 52) (www.geowiss.uni- university course on permafrost for the IPY (EoI 24), just hamburg.de/i-boden/capp). as others have included education in the many EoIs con- Mapping of mountain and high altitude permafrost: Al- cerning permafrost. As a first step to develop this approach, though national maps exist for China, Kazakhstan, Mon- we have started cataloguing International University golia and southern Russia, there are no consistent carto- Courses on Permafrost (IUCP). ICUP will be a series of graphic criteria or terminology on which to base a unified international courses that are offered by universities lo- permafrost map of Central Asia for these topographically cated throughout the world, conducted by international complex and diverse regions. The IPA Circum-Arctic Map teams of permafrost researchers and educators working at of Permafrost and Ground-Ice Conditions simply applied the field course sites, and matriculating an international the continental-based classification of permafrost conti- group of students. Existing and new university courses on nuity to the existing maps of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and theoretical and/or field-based permafrost science and en- China. The International Symposium on Mountain and gineering will form the core activities of IUCP. To im- Arid Land Permafrost held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in prove the use of IUCP, a searchable web-based IUCP da- September 2001, recommended the preparation of a new tabase is under development at and coordinated by the permafrost map of Central Asia. Conceptual approaches, University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). The website will definitions, legends, scales, and resolution still differ, how- be linked to the IPA websites and to others on IPY educa- ever, and much work remains. Work is underway to de- tion and outreach. ICUP will work closely with the Uni- velop a unified, international cartographic classification versity of the Arctic to identify cooperation and funding and derived map products to represent permafrost condi- possibilities for the IUCP students. tions in the high-elevation regions of Central Asia. Dur- A Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) is ing summer 2006 field expeditions are planned to the Tien under development to facilitate and strengthen contacts Shans in Kazakhstan and China and to the Qinghai-Ti- and communications among young scientists in the per- bet Plateau. Another mapping effort is underway for the mafrost community and to provide information on avail- Nordic region that will estimate the lower limits of per- ability of fellowships, conference travel opportunities, job mafrost. opportunities, and other activities of interest. PYRN seeks During the Second International Conference on Arc- to promote and publicize permafrost research undertaken tic Research Planning (ICARP II) in Copenhagen, Den- by young researchers, and to provide information to the mark, in November, the IPA President participated in a public especially to primary and secondary schools. PYRN forum and presented a proposal for long-term research will also promote opportunities for field experiences for entitled: «Response and Role of Permafrost on a Warm- students at all levels of education (www.awi-potsdam.de/ ing Planet». The above-described IPY activities were iden- pyrn). tified as important contributors in understanding these In addition to the currently approved coordination changes. Following the ICARP several days were devoted projects with their education, outreach and data activi- to IPY briefings and planning. On November 14, approxi- ties, several major cross-cutting projects will contribute mately 60 participants from the three coordinated projects to our IPY initiatives. and related activities and invited guests attended an IPY- The Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions (CAPP) project, IPA workshop to plan our future activities. Ed de Mulder, coordinated by Peter Kuhry, aims at quantifying soil or- past president IUGS, presented the status on the Interna- ganic matter quantity and quality along ecoclimatic and tional Year of Planet Earth (2008). Continued planning edaphic gradients in high-latitude and high-altitude re- of our IPY activities will take place at meetings and con- gions that are characterized by the presence of isolated to ferences in Germany (March), Russia (May), Australia continuous permafrost terrain. CAPP includes the North- (July), United States (July), and China (August) (see Plan- ern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (NCSCD) that ning Calendar). provides an improved estimate of soil organic carbon stocks The IPA continues to coordinate its research and for the permafrost regions of North America and Eurasia outreach activities with the International Union of Geo- (see Frozen Ground 28, pages 5-7). Special attention will logical Sciences (IUGS), the Scientific Committee for be given to the widespread peatlands (organic soils). CAPP Antarctic Research (SCAR), the WCRP Climate and

4 Frozen Ground Cryosphere (CliC), the Global Carbon Project, the Land- Secretariat, based in UNIS, is supported by a grant from Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ), the the Research Council of Norway, and is coordinating many International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), and the of the IPY-IPA activities through a planning grant from IUGG Commission on Cryospheric Sciences. The IPA the IUGS.

SECOND EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON PERMAFROST Charles Harris, School of Earth Ocean and Planetary Sciences, Cardiff University, U.K. ([email protected]) Hans-W. Hubberten, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany ([email protected])

The Second European Conference on Permafrost The keynote paper by E. Rivkina explored methane gen- (EUCOP II) was held at the Alfred Wegener Institute eration under subzero temperatures. Other papers dis- (AWI), Potsdam, June 12-16 2005. The conference was cussed microbial communities in relation to permafrost organised by the European Science Foundation funded organic content, methane fluxes and the carbon balance «Permafrost and Climate in Europe in the 21st Century» in the Arctic and in Antarctica, plus climatic and anthro- (PACE21) Network, under the auspices of the Interna- pogenic forcing of permafrost ecosystems, and the tional Permafrost Association (IPA). The local organising geocryology of arctic soils. committee was led by Hans-W. Hubberten of the AWI, Periglacial landforms and cryogenic processes. Chairs Potsdam. Over 250 delegates attended the conference from Matti Seppälä (Finland) and Ole Humlum (Norway). 15 22 countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America papers. The keynote by J. Murton (UK) presented physi- and from New Zealand. The First European Conference cal modelling of bedrock fractured by ice segregation. on Permafrost was held in Rome in 2001. Other papers presented results of laboratory physical Papers were presented orally and as posters, and a vol- modelling, field studies and geophysical investigations ume of abstracts was published for the meeting by the targeted at a range of periglacial processes and ground ice AWI (Terra Nostra Heft 2005/2, 224 p. ISSN 0946-8978). phenomena. Detailed seismic monitoring of Svalbard ice- The main paper sessions are outlined below. wedges provided new information on cracking and wedge Permafrost Records of Past Climates. Chairs Bernhard evolution, and the distribution of periglacial landforms Diekmann (Germany) and Julian Murton (UK). 13 pa- in various mountain regions was described, including the pers discussed Pleistocene permafrost conditions in Sibe- relation between glacier retreat and the development of ria, Alaska, northern Canada and Europe, plus the evolu- cryogenic geomorphic systems. tion of arctic lake basins, lacustrine palaeoenvironmental Permafrost as an analogue for extraterrestrial systems. records and modelling of Pleistocene permafrost and per- Chairs Dirk Wagner (Germany) and David Gilichinsky mafrost interactions with groundwater. (Russia). Eight papers. The keynote talk by D. Gilichinsky Permafrost soils and microbiology. Chairs Eliza Rivkina explored the possibility of water as cryopeg lenses within (Russia) and Eva-Maria Pfeiffer (Germany). 11 papers. the permafrost on Mars. Papers were presented describing

Participants of the EUCOP II conference. Photograph provided by Hans-W. Hubberten.

Frozen Ground 5 the nature and origin of Martian permafrost including The theme of the keynote talk by Don Hayley (Canada) surface polygonal patterns. A second theme was microbi- was «Guidelines for construction in permafrost». Papers ology at low temperatures, including resistance of terres- discussed monitoring and modelling of permafrost stabil- trial bacteria to solar UV and desiccation in the context of ity in northern Russia, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Mac- potential extra terrestrial life forms. kenzie Valley Canada, and the south-western Barents Sea, Hydrology and sediment fluxes in permafrost regions. the role of permafrost in avalanche initiation and labora- Chairs Achim Beylich (Norway) and Bernd Etzelmüller tory physical modelling of soil-structure interactions and (Norway). Eight papers. The sensitivity of the arctic land the stability of scree slopes. surface to climate forcing was discussed, with papers fo- Poster sessions were an important feature of the con- cusing on the effects of permafrost degradation on soils, ference, and generated much lively discussion. 20 posters hydrology and ecosystems together with glacier-perma- were presented on permafrost palaeoenvironments, 19 frost interactions and the nature, formation and present- posters on permafrost soils and microbiology, 32 posters day dynamics of rock glaciers. on periglacial landforms and cryogenic processes, 6 post- Permafrost geochemistry. Chairs Hanno Meyer (Ger- ers on permafrost geochemistry, 16 posters on coastal and many) and Ron Sletten (U.S.A.). Seven papers included offshore permafrost, 11 posters on hydrology and sedi- presentations on geochemical investigations of Antarctic ment fluxes, 44 on permafrost monitoring and modelling ice wedges, tabular ground ice and coastal sediments in in the context of global change and 33 posters on perma- Siberia, cosmogenic dating of permafrost and a new gla- frost engineering and geohazards. In order to recognize cial oxygen isotope record from the Italian Alps. the best contributions by young researchers, the poster Permafrost modelling in the context of climate change. sessions were judged and a total of six awards were pre- Chairs Charles Harris (UK) and Lorenz King (Germany). sented in the closing plenary session. 23 papers. The keynote paper by Martin Hoelzle (Swit- A one-day, post-conference field trip guided by zerland) discussed recent progress in modelling mountain Johannes Schröder and Gerda Schirrmeister (Germany) permafrost distribution. Papers discussed borehole and lead to the key-locality for the European glaciation theory active-layer monitoring in North America, Europe, Sibe- by Otto Torrell (1875). The large quarry of Rüdersdorf ria and the Tibetan Plateau, and impacts of climate, in- opens a 250 m thick sequence of rocks of Middle Triassic cluding extreme events, on permafrost thermal conditions age, surrounded by glacial sediments covering almost the and slope stability. Papers also described ground-ice and entire state of Brandenburg. related landform investigations, and geophysical surveys In addition to the excellent science presented at the in both continuous and discontinuous permafrost. conference, the local organisers provided an exceptional Coastal and offshore permafrost. Chairs Volker Rachold social programme that was thoroughly enjoyed by del- (Germany) and Mikhail Grigoriev (Russia). Seven papers egates. Professor Hubberten and his team at the Alfred included presentations on climate fluctuation and coastal Wegener Institute are to be congratulated on the outstand- dynamics, application of GIS techniques, seismic investi- ing success of the conference. gations of sub-sea permafrost, complex coastal ground ice During the conference two IPA Council meetings were sequences and the dynamics of gas hydrate systems. held to discuss constitutional changes, and to inform del- Engineering, geohazards and land-use planning in per- egates on planning for the Ninth International Confer- mafrost regions. Chairs Michael Davies (UK), Andreas Kääb ence on Permafrost to be held in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2008. (Switzerland) and Martin Gude (Germany). 14 papers.

SUMMARY REPORTS OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH IPA COUNCIL

The following attended both Council meetings except COUNCIL MEMBERS REPRESENTATIVES as noted by asterisks (present at Sixteenth* or Seven- Argentina: Dario Trombotto** teenth** meetings): Austria: Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer Belgium: Irénée Heyse EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Canada: Brian Moorman, Margo Burgess Jerry Brown (P), Charles Harris (VP), Georgy Perlshtein China: Huijun Jin** (VP), Don Hayley, Hans-W. Hubberten. EC member not Denmark: Niels Foged, Ole Humlum** present: Zhu Yuanlin Finland: Matti Seppälä* Secretariat: Hanne H. Christiansen, Angélique Prick France: Brigitte Van Vliet-Lanoë** Germany: Lorenz King, Eva-Maria Pfeiffer*

6 Frozen Ground Italy: Francesco Dramis*, Mauro Guglielmin* Brown reported that the IPA Secretariat, located at the Japan: Norikazu Matsuoka*, Mamoru Ishikawa*, Koichiro University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) received financial Harada** support from the Research Council of Norway for the Netherlands: Jef Vandenberghe period 2005-08 in order to administer the Secretariat and New Zealand: Megan Balks*, Ian Campbell cover the costs of a half-time administrative position. Norway: Kaare Flaate*, Ole Humlum Hanne Christiansen informed members on the status Poland: Kazimierz Pekala of IPA finances. Annual contributions remain the main Portugal (Associate Member): Gonçalo Teles Vieira source of income and it was suggested that some Mem- Russia: Vladimir P. Melnikov bers might voluntarily increase their number of units. The South Africa (Associate Member): Jan Boelhouwers budget was approved by the Council (motion moved by Spain: Miguel Ramos*, Enrique Serrano** M. Davies and seconded by M. Seppälä). The IUGS had Sweden: Margareta Johansson** recently approved a grant to the IPA in support of IPY Switzerland: Daniel Vonder Mühll activities that will mostly cover travel costs. Christiansen United Kingdom: Michael C.R. Davies, Julian Murton** briefly reviewed the 2004 IUGS Annual Report. The ques- USA: Frederick Nelson, Vladimir Romanovsky** tion of supporting partially the IPA finances through a Adhering Bodies not represented: Iceland, Kazakhstan, fee from the International Permafrost Conferences (ICOP) Mongolia was raised. New Zealand’s formal request for membership sub- OTHERS mitted by Dean Peterson, Antarctica New Zealand, was Canada: Antoni Lewkowicz, Sharon Smith unanimously approved (motion moved by B. Moorman Germany: Martin Gude** and seconded by J. Boelhouwers). Brown indicated that Italy: Nicoletta Cannone* New Zealand voluntarily paid a one-unit membership fee Korea: Uk Han** in 2004. This level of membership fee for New Zealand Poland: Wojciech Dobinski* was unanimously approved (motion moved by F. Nelson Switzerland: Andreas Kääb**, Stephan Gruber** and seconded by M. Seppälä). Constitutional changes were proposed by the United SIXTEENTH COUNCIL MEETING, JUNE 12, 2005 Kingdom and circulated to Council Members on March The meeting convened at 2:00 p.m. and adjourned at 8, 2005. Council members discussed the main suggested 5:00 p.m. changes, which are: (1) the establishment of Regional The main purpose of the two Council meetings was to Groups (RG) for the purpose of improved coordination consider changes in the Constitution in response to the among IPA members; (2) the establishment of a category mandate of the last Council meeting in Zurich. The min- of Associate Members for countries that do not have Ad- utes of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Council meetings hering Bodies; (3) a suspension of voting privileges for were unanimously approved (motion moved by D. Vonder Member in arrears of the annual fee payment by more Mühll and seconded by A. Kellerer-Pirklbauer). than two years, and a one-time forgiveness of delinquent

Members attending the Council Meetings in Potsdam. Photograph provided by Hanne H. Christiansen.

Frozen Ground 7 payments; (4) a change in the balloting for Conference Uk Han (member of the Council for Arctic and Ant- (ICOP) location when there is more than one invitation arctic Research in South Korea) presented a brief report by allowing for proportional voting; and (5) an enlarge- on the increasing involvement of South Korea in perma- ment of the Nominating Committee (currently three) to frost research. Han expressed his wishes for an involve- take into account regional interests, and to include the ment of Korea in IPA activities, with Korea ultimately out-going President either as an advisor or a full member. becoming an IPA member. The proposed changes to the IPA Constitution were ap- Brown reopened the discussion on pro-rated confer- proved by the Council (motion moved by M. Davies and ence fees as a source of financing for the IPA. After dis- seconded by F. Nelson). cussion, the Council approved the motion proposed by A formal request for membership in IPA was received Davies and seconded by Vonder Mühll, i.e. that: Confer- from Gonçalo Teles Vieira, University of Lisbon, Portu- ences organizers should allocate a percentage of the regis- gal, in April 2005. The membership of Portugal as an tration fees from all those registered as a contribution to Associate Member was approved by the Council (motion the IPA; this fee should follow a regressive rate, from ICOP moved by J. Boelhouwers and seconded by F. Dramis). to smaller conferences; the rate would be decided by ne- Kaare Flaate, current Chair of International Advisory gotiation between the organizers and the IPA and would Committee (IAC) for ICOP, introduced the new nomi- not apply to student registration fees. nees for membership in the IAC for the period 2005-2010: Hayley presented the further suggested changes to the Antoni G. Lewkowicz (Chair, Canada), David Gilichinsky IPA constitution that were discussed at the Sixteenth (Russia), Huijun Jin (China), Truls Mølmann (Norway), Council meeting and reformulated by the appointed and Marcia Phillips (Switzerland). The nominations were group. The key elements of these constitutional changes approved unanimously by the Council (motion moved are: by K. Flaate and seconded by B. Moorman). (1) ICOP will be held on a four years cycle; Flaate reported on the new temporary Committee on (2) Changes to the EC membership: EC Members are Frost in Ground that is affiliated to the Norwegian elected for four years (no restriction on being re-elected); Geotechnical Society and acting as the Norwegian Ad- President serves a four-year term from ICOP to ICOP; hering Body of the IPA. This Committee is producing a roughly half of EC Members are replaced every two years; new publication Frost i jord / Frost in Ground (Editor: a Senior Vice-President is selected by the EC two years Øystein Myhre). before the end of the President’s term; Senior Vice-Presi- Brown invited a discussion on the additional changes dent becomes President at the next ICOP; EC will select to the Constitution that were proposed by Germany and another Vice-President from their members; EC can ap- endorsed by Canada and the U.S.A. (cf. Seventeenth point (by unanimous consent) a seventh EC member to Council Meeting minutes). A small group of Council and provide regional or disciplinary balance to the EC, or to EC members consisting of Burgess, Harris, Hayley, ensure there is a member from the country hosting ICOP; Moorman, Perlshtein agreed to prepare a revised set of appointed EC member’s term is until the next election; changes for discussion at the next Council meeting (with (3) Changes to the Nominating Committee (NC): EC Prick as a member from the Secretariat). Brown invited selects a NC one year before the ICOP; NC serves for a Council members to reflect on the suggested changes to four-year term to provide continuity for the interim elec- the IPA constitution and postponed further discussions tion; NC solicits nominations from the Adhering Bodies until the Seventeenth Council meeting. of full members; Adhering Bodies can propose up to two A meeting to discuss Working Groups activities was candidates; NC screens all nominations for a list of pro- held between the two Council meetings, on June 14, at- posed candidates and can add candidates in addition to tended by IPA President and Vice Presidents, 15 co-chairs those proposed by the Adhering Bodies. of Working Groups and 25 members and observers. The Hayley detailed the implementation schedule: the pro- purpose of the meeting was to discuss international ac- posed draft changes as revised at the current Council meet- tivities and common topics for future collaboration. ing be circulated to Council members; written comments from the Council are expected by October 2005; the EC SEVENTEENTH COUNCIL MEETING JUNE 15, 2005 will meet before end of 2005 to finalize; a mail ballot will The meeting convened at 3 p.m. and adjourned at 5 then be sent to Council members in early 2006; results of p.m. the ballot are expected by April 2006; a new Nominating Boelhouwers, following email consultation with Ian Committee is set up in June 2006 or 2007; the new struc- Meiklejohn, requested formally a change of membership ture would be in full effect at ICOP 2008. status for Southern Africa from Adhering Body to Associ- Brown reminded the Council of the IPA Long-term ate Member. This Associate Membership under the name Plan (2005-2013) that was sent to Members in March of South Africa (not Southern Africa as previously) was 2005; this plan will have to be modified to reflect the new approved by the Council (motion moved by King and constitutional changes. seconded by Moorman). Margareta Johansson announced that a formal Swed-

8 Frozen Ground ish IPA group will be instituted and an interim commit- tion. The agreement provides for the IPA to be an affiliate tee has been established. A website will function as a com- of the IGU. During the International Geographical Con- munication portal with a list of research projects, contact gress in Glasgow in August 2004, the IGU renewed its details, bibliography and a photo archive. Brown congratu- focus on periglacial topics by approving the new Com- lated Sweden on this positive development and encour- mission on Cold Region Environments (see Frozen Ground aged all countries to have an IPA national website. 28, pages 48-49). Kääb, co-chair of the IPA WG on Glacier and Perma- Peter Kuhry (University of Stockholm) had briefed the frost Hazards in High Mountains, is representing the new participants of the Working Groups meeting on the new IUGG Commission on Cryospheric Sciences. Kääb dis- CAPP (Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions) project. cussed the links between this Commission and the IPA; Brown summarized to the Council members a CAPP po- Brown agreed and indicated there are many contacts be- sition paper (March 24, 2005). There were no objections tween the permafrost community and the snow and ice to CAPP being an IPA project, particularly as part of the researchers. Vonder Mühll underlined that some IPA mem- IPY. bers should attend the August 2006 International joint Brown congratulated the present members of New CliC/IGS/ICSI Symposium on Cryospheric Indicators of Zealand, Portugal and South Africa for their new status Global Climate Change, in Cambridge, U.K. within the IPA. He thanked Christiansen and Prick for The IGU (International Geographical Union) and the IPA Secretariat support in the Council meetings organi- IPA agreed to renew their 1996 commitment of coopera- sation.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SUMMARIES

The following summaries of the two Executive Committee meetings are included for the record. Additional details are reported in the Council meetings.

JUNE 11, 2005 7. Planning for the International Polar Year (IPY) The Executive Committee (EC) met at the Hotel 8. Concluding remarks: It was agreed that it was not Mercure, Potsdam. Members present were: Jerry Brown necessary to review Working Group progress at the (President), Georgy Perlshstein (Vice President), Don present EC and Council meetings. Hayley, Hans-W. Hubberten. Not present: Charles Harris (Vice President), Zhu Yuanlin. The IPA Secretariat was represented by Hanne H. Christiansen and Angélique Prick. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss JUNE 15, 2005 agenda items for the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Council The Executive Committee (EC) met directly after the meetings, in particular the proposed constitutional Seventeenth Council meeting at the Alfred Wegener In- changes. The agenda was approved as previously circu- stitute. Members present were: Jerry Brown Charles Harris, lated by email. The EC discussed the following topics: Georgy Perlshstein, Don Hayley, Hans-W. Hubberten. 1. Proposed constitutional changes to be voted by Zhu Yuanlin was not present, but was represented by Council at the Sixteenth Council meeting; in par- Huijun Jin. The IPA Secretariat was represented by Hanne ticular: the organization of regional conferences, H. Christiansen and Angélique Prick. the elaboration of Regional Groups. 1. Possible replacement of an Executive Member: The 2. Long-term Plan updates question of replacing a member of the Executive 3. Further constitutional changes and procedures (in- Committee between Council meetings was re- cluding mail ballot options) viewed. Lacking a formal constitutional procedure 4. Budget review the Executive Committee will consult Council 5. Membership of the new International Advisory when such circumstances arise. Committee for the International Conference on 2. Next EC meetings: AGU San Francisco meeting in Permafrost December 2005, and possibly during the Asian 6. The CAPP project: Carbon Pools in Permafrost Conference on Permafrost, August 2006. Regions

Frozen Ground 9 WORKING GROUPS AND STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

The following are brief summaries of Working Parties Project 50. The new active-layer and periglacial proc- activities for the past year. See Frozen Ground 27 for goals ess monitoring network extends the Circumpolar and other annual reports on the IPA web. Active Layer Monitoring program to the Antarctic region (CALM-S). Soils observations will include contributions to the Carbon Pools in Permafrost Re- 1. ANTARCTIC PERMAFROST AND gions (CAPP) project. • Regional studies on the archived records of climate PERIGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS change in past and present permafrost environments. Co-chairs • Develop the plan for deep borehole drilling, sam- Jan Boelhouwers, Sweden pling and analyses in the ice-free areas on the Ant- ([email protected]) arctic continent. Jim Bockheim, USA ([email protected]) The second workshop was held during the EUCOP II conference in Potsdam and was attended by 23 partici- Activities of the working group are jointly sponsored pants from 13 countries. The main goal of the workshop by IPA and the Expert Group on Permafrost and Periglacial was to discuss progress on the sub-group activities and Environments (EGPPE) of the SCAR Standing Scientific prepare the final IPY proposal submission. Main outcomes Group on Geosciences. Following the Madison workshop can be summarized as follows: in November 2004 (reported in Frozen Ground 28, • Megan Balks has established the ANTPAS website p. 12), the following sub-groups were established (leaders at Waikato University (http://erth.waikato.ac.nz/ in brackets): Database development and management antpas/). The website presents Working Group and (Beata Csatho, Cheryl Hallam); Permafrost (Ron Sletten); related reports, forthcoming meetings, ongoing Soils and geomorphology (Jim Bockheim); Permafrost projects and bibliography updates. One can also sign borehole and active-layer monitoring (Mauro Guglielmin). up to the ANTPAS mail list through the website. One outcome of the Madison workshop was to de- • Database development. A number of important da- velop a project as a contribution to the International Po- tabase centres have been identified, notably USGS, lar Year (IPY). The Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Perma- Landcare NZ, Gateway Antarctica, and NSIDC. The frost, Periglacial and Soils Environments (ANTPAS) pro- project requires a central website and database man- posal was submitted and received approval from the IPY ager that links to these existing databases and needs Joint Committee. to be coordinated with IPY data activities and policy. Main goals of the ANTPAS activities are: Permafrost and soil mapping approaches require an • Integrate existing datasets on permafrost, ground ice, inventory of existing data and maps. Enrique Serrano active-layer dynamics and soils into a common, web- and Carlos Schaefer have agreed to lead this inven- accessible, database system, and managed in com- tory. pliance to the IPY data policy. • An important issue in regards to permafrost and soils • Produce a set of thematic maps, at different scales monitoring and mapping in the Antarctic region is and levels of detail, on Antarctic permafrost and soils the fragmented spatial coverage. In order to stimu- as models of our current scientific understanding of late the extension of regional coverage measurement the region, including models of subglacial perma- protocols are being drafted on soils data collection frost. (M. Balks, J. Bockheim and M. McCleod), perma- • Utilize non-invasive imaging methods including re- frost borehole and active-layer monitoring (M. mote sensing / photogrammetry / GIS, as well as Guglielmin, F. Nelson, G. Vieira) and active-layer imaging sub-surface conditions with geophysical process monitoring (J. Boelhouwers and N. methods to map soils, bedrock and potential ground Matsuoka). Draft documents will be posted on the ice conditions and surface moisture. ANTPAS website. • Forthcoming Working Group meetings: July 12-14, • Develop new techniques for permafrost dating. th Searching, mapping and sampling the Earth’s ancient 2006, 29 SCAR Open Science Conference, Ho- permafrost. bart, Tasmania; August 26 – September 1, 2007, • Implement a borehole, active-layer and periglacial SCAR ISAES Santa Barbara, California; June 23- process and soils observation and monitoring net- 27, 2008, NICOP, Fairbanks, Alaska. work along selected environmental gradients using Contributions on project information and publications common protocols. This forms the Antarctic com- are invited and should be submitted to Megan Balks ponent of the IPA-IPY Permafrost Observatory ([email protected]).

10 Frozen Ground 2. COASTAL AND OFFSHORE the pore water / pore ice. The first results clearly show that relict subsea permafrost exists in the nearshore zone PERMAFROST of the Laptev Sea. All boreholes encountered frozen ter- restrial permafrost deposits. At 12-km distance from the Co-chairs coast, in a water depth of ca. six meters, the subsea per- Volker Rachold, Germany ([email protected]) mafrost table is located at approximately 30 m below Nikolai Romanovskii, Russia ([email protected]) seabed. The scientific results of the Arctic Coastal Dynamics A related activity of the Coastal and Offshore Perma- (ACD) project developed to the present time were sum- frost (COP) Working Group was an offshore permafrost marized in a special issue (Geo-Marine Letters, Volume 25, drilling campaign performed in the Western Laptev Sea Number 2-3, June 2005) edited by V. Rachold, F.E. Are, in April 2005 by the Research Unit Potsdam of the Alfred D.E. Atkinson, G. Cherkashov and S.M. Solomon. The Wegener Institute, the Permafrost Institute (Yakutsk), the report of the 5th International Workshop of the ACD Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (St. Petersburg) project held in Montreal, October 13-16, 2004, was pub- and the Geoscience Institute of Bremen University within lished in the journal Reports on Polar and Marine Re- the expedition COAST. Mathematical modelling has been search (Volume 506) edited by V. Rachold, H. Lantuit, applied in several studies on the offshore permafrost dis- N. Couture, and W. Pollard. The current focus of ACD is tribution during the last decade and the model results in- on developing a circum-Arctic coastal GeoInformation dicate that presently the entire Laptev and East Siberian System (GIS), which includes a coastal classification and shelves are characterized by the occurrence of subsea per- relevant environmental and climate forcing data. The GIS mafrost. Within former river channels (Lena and Yana will be made available through an internet-map-server Rivers) open taliks exist. In the onshore coastal areas, ac- (ARC-IMS) and published on CD-Rom. A first version is cording to these models, the permafrost thickness varies presented at the Second International Conference on Arc- between 400 and 1000 m. However, despite the large tic Research Planning (ICARP II) in Copenhagen (Den- number of indirect evidences for the existence of subsea mark), November 10-12, 2005. The Arctic Circum-Polar permafrost and its evolution and characteristics, its distri- Coastal Observatory Network (ACCO-Net) was endorsed bution in the nearshore zone is still poorly understood. by the IPY Joint Committee (see page 3). Site selection During the expedition COAST a transect consisting of will be coordinated with the circum-Arctic coastal key sites five boreholes from the coast to the offshore zone (12 km established within the IASC/IPA/IGBP-LOICZ project off the coast) was drilled and cored down to approximately Artic Coastal Dynamics, the river monitoring stations 80 m below sea-level in order to trace the permafrost ta- installed at down-stream locations on the six largest rivers ble in the offshore zone. The methodology included meas- draining the pan-Arctic watershed (Yenisey, Lena, Ob, urements on the temperature and salinity regime in the Kolyma, Yukon, Mackenzie) as part of the NSF-ARCSS boreholes, the sedimentological and geocryolical compo- Freshwater Initiative (FWI), and the pilot version of the sition of the sediments and the chemical characteristics of Hudson Bay Complex Observatory (MERICA).

The COAST expedition on their drilling campaign. Photograph by Ralf Junker.

Frozen Ground 11 3. CRYOSOL CWG: the Commission of Palaeopedology of IUSS and INQUA; the Dokuchaev Soil Science Society; the Insti- Co-chairs tute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Sergey V. Goryachkin, Russia Science, Pushchino; the State Reserve Pinezhsky, ([email protected]) Arkhangelsk Region; the Russian Foundation of Academic Eva-Maria Pfeiffer, Germany Research; the Presidium of Russian Academy of Sciences; ([email protected]) the German Research Community; and the University of Hamburg (Germany). Over 60 participants from eight In 2005, the Cryosol Working Group (CWG), an in- different countries, all with an active interest in ternational platform of the IPA and IUSS, continued and cryopedology, represented many different areas of soil sci- intensified scientific exchange on permafrost-soil related ence. The first four days in Arkhangelsk were formal ses- topics at various international meetings. In Stockholm, sions where 40 papers were presented as well as 15 posters February 3-5, 2005, Eva-Maria Pfeiffer, as a member of dealing with all aspects of cryosols. There was a very ac- the CWG, was asked to be one of chairpersons of the tive discussion of the papers and recommendations were CAPP project. At the EUCOP II conference in June, a made by the group for changes to how cryosols are han- CWG-meeting was held where the current and future dled in the WRB. CWG plans were discussed. Furthermore a one-day ex- Three days were then spent on an interesting field trip cursion with focus on periglacial features of the last three to the Pinega Region. The field trip focused on «Soils and glaciations was organized to the open, brown coal mining Perennial Underground Ice of Glaciated and Karst Land- area of the Leipzig lowlands. scapes in Northern European Russia», in a region charac- The highlight of 2005 was the IV International Con- terised by gypsum karst and a large variety of soils. The ference on Cryopedology «Cryosols: Genesis, Ecology and genesis and classification of several profiles were discussed, Management» in Arkhangelsk and Pinega, Russia, August including in the perspective of comparing different soil 1-8. The meeting was hosted by the Institute of Ecologi- classifications and mapping systems. The group visited cal Problems of the North Ural Branch of RAS, the Pinega State Reserve and the very informative Mu- Arkhangelsk. The lead organizer of the conference was seum of Karst. A large number of young scientists took S.V. Goryachkin (Institute of Geography, Russian Acad- part in the discussions and made several very interesting emy of Sciences, Moscow); assisted by E.-M. Pfeiffer (Uni- presentations; this was of significant importance to many versity of Hamburg). Several groups were active in the of the CWG founders (founded 1992) as interest in cryosol organization and sponsoring of the conference besides research has the ability to develop further in the future.

Participants in the IV International Conference on Cryopedology «Cryosols: Genesis, Ecology and Management» in Arkhangelsk, Russia, August 2005. Photograph provided by John Kimble.

12 Frozen Ground Participants warmly thanked the organizer, Sergey At the EUCOP II Conference in Potsdam, in June Goryachkin, and his helpers, for their excellent job. This 2005, the Working Group held a meeting where a first report of the Cryopedology conference was prepared by draft was discussed concerning international recommen- John Kimble who recently retired from a long career in dations by GAPHAZ for assessing glacier and permafrost the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. hazards in mountains. During the Russian-German Expedition Lena 2005, Currently the Working Group is in an advanced stage methane fluxes in permafrost sediments and lakes of the of compiling a special issue for the journal Global and Lena Delta were studied by the University of Hamburg in Planetary Change on «Climate change impacts on moun- cooperation with AWI Potsdam (cf. News from Members: tain glaciers and permafrost», and where related hazards Germany). Within a research and education co-operative play a major role. 13 papers have been submitted and most project between the University of Tyumen (Gas & Oil) of the review process was completed by October 2005 and the University of Hamburg (Department of Geo-Sci- (http://www.geo.unizh.ch/gaphaz/gpc). Publication is ence), a field trip to the Nadym and Yamal regions of foreseen for early 2006. West Siberia was realized in September 2005. Representa- For further information see: http://www.geo.unizh.ch/ tive sites were chosen for the planned 2006 student ex- gaphaz cursion on soil problems and management of the North and for the future research programme between the two institutions. CWG members participated in the ESF workshop of CAPP in November. They plan to organize a special ses- 5. ISOTOPES AND GEOCHEMISTRY sion during the IUSS, Philadelphia, July, 9-16, 2006. For more details, see the CWG web page: http:// OF PERMAFROST igras.geonet.ru/cwg Co-chairs Hanno Meyer, Germany ([email protected]) Ron Sletten, U.S.A. ([email protected]) 4. GLACIER AND PERMAFROST HAZARDS The Working Group met during the Second European IN MOUNTAINS Conference on Permafrost. The meeting was attended by H. Meyer, R. Sletten, E.M. Pfeiffer, B. Stenni, I. Joint IPA and Commission for the Cryospheric Sciences Streletskaya, K. Yoshikawa, E. Korobeva. The need to es- (CCS) tablish standard methods and a geochemical database for ground ice was reiterated. The implementation of this Chair database will require input from the WG members and Andreas Kääb, Norway others. It was proposed that a literature database be estab- ([email protected]) lished on the website with relevant publications on iso- topes and geochemistry of permafrost. IPA Vice-chair A special, well-attended session was held at EUCOP II Bernd Etzelmüller, Norway titled «Mineralogy, geochemistry and isotopes in perma- ([email protected]) frost research». The strong interest in this session resulted in seven posters and seven oral presentations and indicates CCS Vice-chairs that similar sessions should be held at future permafrost Jeffrey S. Kargel, U.S.A. ([email protected]) meetings. These sessions bring together researchers actively John Reynolds, United Kingdom ([email protected]) involved in diverse studies of isotopes and geochemistry of ground ice, and foster further cooperation. The joint Working Group on Glacier and Permafrost Within the framework of the WG, one of the main Hazards in Mountains (GAPHAZ) of the IPA and the achievements is the extensive new collaborations that have Commission on Cryospheric Sciences (CCS) organized a been established among its various members. Examples second scientific session «Global change: new challenges of these collaborations include: the study of oxygen iso- for assessing glacier and permafrost hazards» within the topes in lacustrine diatoms of Greenland (Alfred Wegener European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly Institute and University of Washington); and ground ice 2005 held in Vienna. Six speakers presented at the oral studies in the permafrost tunnels in Fairbanks and Bar- session, six at the poster presentation. Further informa- row, Alaska (University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and Alfred tion and the abstracts can be found on: http:// Wegener Institute). The first results of these cooperative meetings.copernicus.org/egu2005/annotation.html efforts were presented at EUCOP II. (Cryospheric Sciences, session CR14). A similar session is A circum-Arctic network for the sampling of precipi- planned for the EGU General Assembly 2006. tation has been initiated based on the GNIP (Global Net-

Frozen Ground 13 work of Isotopes in Precipitation) protocol provided by on the IPA permafrost map. It was suggested to distin- the IAEA-WMO program (www.iaea.org): «Routine sam- guish plateau and mountain permafrost within the class pling and analytical protocol for stable oxygen and hy- of altitudinal permafrost. The high topographic complex- drogen isotope in precipitation in the Arctic regions». Sta- ity of mountain terrain further complicates the distribu- tions in this network have been installed in Yakutsk and tion patterns. Distribution depends on various factors and Tiksi. Stations in Svalbard, Barrow, and Yamal are planned. does not conform to conventional «continuous», «discon- Individuals or groups sampling arctic precipitation on a tinuous», and «sporadic permafrost» within the high- regular basis are invited to join this network and should mountain area. Most likely, mountain permafrost distri- contact Hanno Meyer or Ron Sletten. bution would be modelled and mapped by its lower We encourage interested individuals to become mem- altitudinal limit. bers of the Working Group and to fill out the question- We also appreciate the assistance of Alan Heginbottom naire (http://www.awi-potsdam.de/www-pot/geo/ and Bernd Etzelmüller with their useful ideas and partici- isochem-wg.html) and to join the email list server pation in the electronic discussion on Central Asian per- ([email protected]). Instructions for joining mafrost classification. Some results of the above activities are on the web site. The next planned meeting of the WG will be presented at the conferences in Russia (May 2006) is at the Asian Conference on Permafrost to be held in and Lanzhou, China at the Asian Conference on Perma- Lanzhou, China, August 2006. Other informal meetings frost (August 2006) and where future WG activities will may be held at AGU, EGU, Russia, and other venues prior be discussed. Members of the WG plan to visit perma- to the meeting in Lanzhou. frost regions in Kazakhstan and the Tien Shans prior to the Lanzhou conference and participate on the Plateau excursion.

6. MAPPING AND MODELLING OF MOUNTAIN PERMAFROST 7. PERIGLACIAL LANDFORMS, PROCESSES Co-chairs AND CLIMATE Dmitry S. Drozdov, Russia ([email protected]) Co-chairs Sergei Marchenko, Kazakhstan/U.S.A. Ole Humlum, Norway ([email protected]) ([email protected]) Norikazu Matsuoka, Japan Rune Strand Ødegård, Norway ([email protected]) ([email protected])

During the First CliC International Science Confer- Subgroup Chair, Spatial Variability ence in Beijing in April 2005 several members of the WG Achim A. Beylich, Norway ([email protected]) met to continue the discussion on establishing a uniform The Working Group addresses periglacial processes and classification for Central Asian permafrost. Later, during their coupling to climate, and new methodologies to in- the International Conference in Pushchino in May 2005 vestigate and monitor such geomorphic processes. The discussions on classification and uniform legend of the WG will contribute towards a better understanding of the Central Asian permafrost map were continued together periglacial geomorphic effects of climatic variations, past, with Russian colleagues. Several draft legends for the pro- present and future. This is carried out on the modern back- posed Central Asian map includes innovations in the clas- ground of increasingly awareness of a series of modes of sification and permafrost distribution description. N. variability within the global climate system, which oper- Sharkhuu demonstrated a highly comprehensive legend ate over a range of temporal and spatial scales. and sample of the permafrost map of the Hovsgol Moun- A project on «Global network for monitoring tain region (scale 1:1,000,000). There has been an effort periglacial processes and associated environmental param- to combine different approaches to permafrost mapping eters» was started in 2004. The first step is to construct including geomorphologic and landscape mapping for per- model experimental sites in Adventdalen, Svalbard, which mafrost modelling validation. will allow us to standardize the monitoring techniques Because Central Asian permafrost exists both within and promote the activity effectively. In the summer of the mountains and in relatively low relief areas, a first step 2004, an ice-wedge site was instrumented with sensors toward classification was accepted to distinguish the two for recording horizontal and vertical ground movements, major classes of permafrost based on altitude factor: low- crack generation, soil moisture and temperature and snow land (latitudinal) permafrost and highland (altitudinal) depth. A rockwall site was also constructed to monitor permafrost. The lowland permafrost distribution can be rock-joint widening, moisture and near-surface tempera- delineated using areal percentage and classified as presented ture. In the summer of 2005, the first data from the two

14 Frozen Ground sites were collected. Furthermore, a new 15-m deep ence Foundation, were presented at international confer- borehole was drilled into a rock glacier and instrumented ences in Pushchino, Potsdam, and San Francisco during with temperature sensors and three inclinometers that 2005. Co-principal investigators on the project are Nikolia monitor permafrost creep. Shiklomanov (University of Delaware), Tingjun Zhang A multi-authored field manual has been in prepara- (University of Colorado), Vladimir Romanovsky (Univer- tion over the past several years and can be downloaded sity of Alaska-Fairbanks) and Oleg Anisimov (Russian State from the IPA web site. This field manual continues to Hydrological Institute). Another spatially oriented project, receive new contributions and updates. tentatively titled «Permafrost in Central Asia», is concerned During 2005 the following periglacial meetings were with mapping, monitoring, and modelling permafrost in held: mountainous regions of Kazakhstan, China, and Russia. • The Second SEDIFLUX meeting, «Shifting Lands. A proposal to the National Geographic Society for sup- New insights into periglacial geomorphology», port of this work is pending; participants include several Clermont-Ferrand, France, January 20-22. Working Group members. • EUCOP II, Potsdam, Germany. Sessions on The IPA Permafrost and Climate Working Group is Periglacial landforms and cryogenic processes and closely involved with many of the permafrost-oriented Hydrology and sediment fluxes in permafrost re- International Polar Year activities described elsewhere in gions. this issue, primarily through the IPY projects designated • PACE21, coordination group meeting, Cardiff, Thermal State of Permafrost and Antarctic and sub-Antartic U.K., December 13. Permafrost, Periglacial and Soils Environments. A protocol During the year, liaison with the new International for borehole instrumentation and data collection under Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Cold Region the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) component of GTN- Environments continued. The IGU commission is co- P I is being developed, As part of GTN-P, Vladimir chaired by Martin Gude (Germany) and Christer Jonasson Romanovsky and Sergei Marchenko prepared a prelimi- (Sweden). nary map showing the adequacy of the existing borehole network. Similar analytic treatment is planned in 2006 to assess the spatial coverage of the CALM network. Permafrost is treated in several of the ICARP II draft 8. PERMAFROST AND CLIMATE report’s chapters, most extensively in Chapter 7, Cryosphere and Hydrologic Processes and Systems. Lively discussions Co-chairs attended the presentation of a preliminary version of the Oleg Anisimov, Russia ([email protected]) report’s contents and more information about permafrost Frederick Nelson U.S.A. ([email protected]) and related phenomena is to be included in the finalized version. Three open forum presentations were made in a Subgroup Chairs plenary session at ICARP II to address subjects not repre- Model Inter-comparison: V. Romanovsky, U.S.A. sented adequately in the main report. One of these pres- ([email protected]) entations, made by Jerry Brown and titled «Response and Monitoring: S. Smith, Canada ([email protected]) Role of Permafrost on a Warming Planet» demonstrated the importance of permafrost in both the natural and The overall goal is to investigate interactions between human-impacts aspects of climate-change science. permafrost and climate: past present and future. Working The International Geographical Union’s Commission Group activities continue on a variety of fronts, several of on Cold Regions Environments primary aim is to develop them connected with international commissions and bod- and disseminate information about sustainable land use ies concerned with climate change and its impacts. The in changing cold environments. The hazards associated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) con- with thawing permafrost are a central concern of this work. tinues work on its Fourth Assessment Report (FAR), which The Commission’s long-term activities and plans were in late 2005 underwent review of its First-Order Draft. described in presentations at the EUCOP II in Potsdam Tingjun Zhang is Lead Author on Chapter 4 of the IPCC in June and discussed at the ICARP II meeting in Copen- Working Group I chapter concerned with changes in snow, hagen in November. ice and frozen ground. Oleg Anisimov is Coordinating Permafrost continues to be a major focus at the Fall Lead Author of the IPCC Working Group II chapter on Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The 2005 the polar regions. The Arctic Climate Impacts Assessment meeting in San Francisco featured nearly 50 presentations released its report in 2005; permafrost and related climate- under the heading «Permafrost and Seasonally Frozen change issues are discussed in Chapter 6, «Cryosphere and Ground in a Changing Climate», organized by Stephan Hydrology», of which Anisimov was a co-author. Gruber, Tingjun Zhang, and F. E. Nelson. A special issue Preliminary results from the permafrost-model of the Earth Surface section of Journal of Geophysical Re- intercomparison project, described briefly in Frozen search based on conference presentations is currently in Ground 28, p. 19 and funded by the U.S. National Sci- preparation.

Frozen Ground 15 9. PERMAFROST ASTROBIOLOGY Co-chairs David Gilichinsky, Russia ([email protected]) Christopher P. McKay, U.S.A. ([email protected])

The first permafrost samples were sent into space on board the «Foton» satellite from May 31 - June 14, 2005. The experiment «PERMAFROST» started from the Baikonur base within the European Space Agency «BIOPAN» project and was prepared by scientists and stu- dents of Soil Cryology Laboratory (Institute for Physico- chemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Rus- sian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino). The idea behind the BIOPAN PERMAFROST experiment was to expose The FOTON satellite with the experimental facility permafrost samples of different ages with known com- mounted on the outside of the carrier satellite, allowing munities of viable palaeomicroorganisms to the space en- the experiments to be exposed to the vacuum and the full vironment. When the samples returned to the Earth, spectrum of radiation environment of the outer space. knowing the environmental parameters of travel, the mi- Photograph provided by David Gilichinsky. crobial characteristics were examined (number of viable cells, biodiversity, DNA structure and metabolic activity in frozen / thawed state). These data will help to under- Permafrost Astrobiology related meetings in 2005 in- stand if such a travel is lethal for microorganisms pre- clude: «Planetary Cryology» (at the International Confer- served within frozen ground, and finally, to confirm (or ence on «Priorities in Earth Cryosphere Research», not) panspermia, i.e. the possibility to transport the or- Pushchino), «Cryology of planets» (at the Third Confer- ganisms within the cryogenic meteorites to the Earth. ence of Russian Geocryology, Moscow), «Permafrost as Astrobiology became a cross-cutting theme that broadly an analog for extraterrestrial systems» (EUCOP II, defines research on the origins and evolution of life on Potsdam), and «Mars Exploration: Earth Allegories» (AGU Earth, and technologies and instruments to detect life on meeting, San Francisco). other planets such as Europa and Mars. An interdisciplinary field expedition with astrobiology interest is planned in summer 2006 by the NASA Astro- biology Institute together with the Russian Astrobiology Centre. Activities will include: studying the thermophilic microbial community in frozen volcanic deposits of the Kluchevskaya volcano group (Kamchatka peninsula) as a model of Martian ecosystem; sampling for microbiologic analyses of frozen volcanic deposits; measuring tempera- ture and ground radiation, structure and contents of gas components, ice content, chemical and grain composi- tion, organic carbon content; and developing isolation bacteria cultures from frozen samples in order to study their biodiversity. For more information contact: Rosalind A. Grymes or Patricia Gregory and see: http:// nai.arc.nasa.gov The study «Utilization of fluorescent microspheres and a green fluorescent protein-marked strain for assessment of microbiological contamination of permafrost and ground ice core samples from the Canadian High Arctic» was published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2005, v. 71, N 2). Permafrost astrobiology related chap- Drilling sites on permanently frozen volcanic deposits of ters were also published in the monograph «Life in An- the Kluchevskaya volcano group as a model of Martian cient Ice» (eds.: J. Castello, S. Rogers, Princeton Univer- ecosystem. Photograph provided by David Gilichinsky. sity Press, 2005).

16 Frozen Ground STANDING COMMITTEE ON DATA, port in Other News). The first IGOS (Integrated Global Observing Strategy) Cryosphere Theme workshop was INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS held in Calgary, Alberta, in March 2005. S. Smith led the Co-chairs permafrost writing team and attended the workshop. A Roger G. Barry, U.S.A. ([email protected]) draft of the Cryosphere theme document is under review Sharon Smith, Canada ([email protected]) and revision. Other activities include participation in the 2005 Fall The Frozen Ground Data Center (FGDC) at NSIDC AGU and the 2005 meeting of the Association of Ameri- recently released a digital version of «Geocryology and can Geographers in Denver, Colorado Geocryological Zonation of Mongolia», which includes (www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/AAG_CrSG). maps of general geocryological regions based on factors Recent publications include: such as elevation, mean annual air temperature, and freeze/ Barry, R.G. (Contributor) 2004. Implementation Plan thaw depth. Locations of specific cryogenic phenomena for the Global Observing System for Climate in support are also included. The maps are available as ESRI shapefiles. of the UNFCCC. GCOS 92 (WMO/TD No. 1219), They were digitized from two plates in the 1990 National Geneva. Atlas of Mongolia (Sodnom and Yanshin, 1990). One Zhang, T., Barry, R.G. and Armstrong, R.L. 2004. source map was at a scale of 1:4,500,000 and the other at Application of satellite remote sensing techniques to fro- 1:12,000,000. Data are available at: http://nsidc.org/data/ zen ground studies. Polar Geography 28(3): 163-196. ggd648.html Data Products: Through the ICSU-WMO Joint Committee for the Smith, S.L., Burgess, M.M., Chartrand, J. and Law- IPY, an IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee rence, D.E., 2005, Digital borehole geotechnical database has been established. This group, co-chaired by Mark Par- for the Mackenzie Valley/Delta region, Geological Survey sons, NSIDC, will assist and guide IPY data management. of Canada Open File 4924, 1 CD ROM. The NSDIC IPY Expression of Intent Data and Informa- tion Service (DIS) for Distributed Data Management was approved. To begin the implementation, NSIDC received two awards: «Development of a Strategy and Architecture INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE for an IPY Data and Information Service: A Planning Pro- posal» from NSF-OPP. The main element of this will be a FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE workshop to be held in early 2006 at the British Antarctic ON PERMAFROST Survey (BAS), Cambridge. NSIDC has also been informed that the NASA-ACCESS program will support a project: Chair «Discovery, Access, and Delivery of Data for the Interna- Antoni G. Lewkowicz, Canada ([email protected]) tional Polar Year (IPY) (DADDI)». The focus is on the Arctic coastal zone data that will support a wide commu- The mandate of the IAC is to provide continuity in nity of users. maintaining policies for the International Permafrost Con- A brief meeting of SCDIC chaired by S. Smith was ferences (ICOP) and to provide advice in other matters as held during the EUCOP II in June 2005. Status reports requested by the hosting member or the Executive Com- on GTN-P and FGDC were provided. Much of the dis- mittee of the IPA. Membership in the new IAC was rati- cussion was related to future plans including data man- fied at the Potsdam IPA Council Meeting. The new Chair, agement activities associated with IPY. It was suggested Antoni Lewkowicz (Canada), was a member of the previ- that a CD which contains the «data snapshot» such as ous IAC and was in charge of the Technical Program at that collected as part of the TSP project could be pro- the 1998 Yellowknife Conference. The other members are duced. This would be in addition to a CAPS3 CD that all well-known figures in the permafrost community and would be released in 2008 at the NICOP in Fairbanks. A attendees of multiple ICOPs: David Gilichinsky (Russia), number of suggestions were made regarding the contents Huijun Jin (China), Truls Mølmann (Norway), and Marcia of CAPS3 and there was support for including previous Phillips (Switzerland) who handled the review and publi- ICOP proceedings on the CD. cation of papers for the Eighth ICOP. The IAC is about R. Barry was co-chair of the Scientific Organizing to start its work providing feedback and suggestions to Committee of the CliC First Science Conference (see re- the NICOP organizers.

Frozen Ground 17 (Styria) is of particular interest because of widespread oc- NEWS FROM MEMBERS currence of multi-unit relict rock glaciers, possibly attrib- Members are encouraged to submit periodic updates of uted to different stages of the Late-Glacial period. Thus activities for posting on the IPA Web site. in this mountain area, palaeo-permafrost investigations will give information on permafrost distribution at its spa- AUSTRIA tial limits and on glacial and periglacial landscape evolu- tion. Most of the permafrost research in Austria is carried Gerhard Karl Lieb ([email protected]) out by the research groups in Innsbruck and in Graz. The Innsbruck group (K. Krainer) is continuing rock glacier monitoring in the western Stubai and Oetztal Alps CANADA (hydrogeology, ground temperature, surface velocities). At the University of Ottawa, Antoni Lewkowicz and Furthermore investigations on active rock glaciers in South his graduate students are undertaking permafrost research Tyrol (Central Alps and eastern Dolomites) started with in the mountains of northwest Canada (supported by the similar thematic focus using georadar information. Yukon Geological Survey, YGS and the Geological Sur- vey of Canada, GSC as well as NSERC) and on Ellesmere Island (with PCSP support). One project is to test the BTS method to map permafrost probability in extreme northwestern British Columbia (Haines Road) and in the southwest Yukon (Ruby Range), where one of the steep- est precipitation gradients in Canada occurs. Preliminary results suggest that the BTS method can be applied suc- cessfully and that the lower limits of permafrost rise by about 200 m between the two sites. A second project is focused on the effects of forest fire on landsliding over permafrost in the area around Dawson (Yukon) where numerous fires occurred in 2004. Shallow landslides de- veloped immediately following the fires but more were predicted for 2005 and indeed occurred. A third project examined thermokarst development in ice-rich terrain A multiunit or polymorphic relict rock glacier from within a mid-elevation valley near Whitehorse (Yukon). Late-Glacial times in the Niedere Tauern Range, Austria. Degradation has been considerable in the past 50 years Photograph by A. Kellerer-Pirklbauer. but it appears that this is only the latest event during the late-Holocene in formation and degradation of perma- The Graz group focuses on active rock glaciers in the frost in the area. In an adjacent valley, the contemporary central Alps of Austria. The Institute of Remote Sensing dynamics of a palsa field that is influenced by drainage and Photogrammetry (Graz University of Technology) changes is being monitored. continued annual geodetic measurements on Doesen, Numerous new detachment failures occurred on the Hinteres Langtalkar and Weissenkar rock glaciers and pre- Fosheim Peninsula (Ellesmere Island) as a result of the sented a final report on the applicability of differential warm and sunny conditions in August 2005. Frost tubes SAR interferometry using ERS-1/2 data for measuring installed by the GSC suggest that the summer of 2005 surface deformation of glaciers and active rock glaciers. In was one of the warmest in the last 10-15 years. Some de- a case study, ground-based photogrammetric methods were tachment failures were observed to develop in one or two used successfully for deriving metric information on sur- hours, while others continued to enlarge for several days. face deformation and flow velocity. Current research activities at the University of Alberta Since 2000 the front of the highly active Hinteres Geotechnical Centre focused on the micro structural proc- Langtalkar rock glacier has been monitored by terrestrial esses during the freezing and thawing of fine- and coarse- laser scanning (Riegl LPM-2k Long Range Laser Scanner grained soils (Lukas Arenson, Dave Sego). Initially, the and the software GeoScanner) by Joanneum Research in freezing process was observed under different tempera- order to better understand rock glacier front processes with ture boundary conditions and pore water salinities. high temporal and spatial resolution. More recently, studies Animations of one-dimensional freezing tests can be on geomorphic processes were emphasized to improve our downloaded from: http://www.engineering.ualberta.ca/ knowledge on processes in the nourishment areas of ac- geotechnical/frozenSoils.cfm. Subsequent investigations tive rock glaciers. are focused on ice lens formations, frozen fringe develop- Beside these activities, research also focuses on lower ment and frost heave within frost susceptible fine grained mountains of eastern Austria. The Niedere Tauern range samples.

18 Frozen Ground Permafrost research at the University of Calgary is con- Permafrost research at Carleton University has been centrated in the Departments of Civil Engineering, Geol- rejuvenated through the NSERC Northern Chair Program ogy & Geophysics and Geography. Jocelyn Grozic and in Permafrost (Chris Burn) in the Yukon and Northwest her team have developed a laboratory for modelling the Territories. Currently, eleven graduate students in physi- properties of gas hydrates including being able to create cal geography are working in this area, and two new fac- and decompose them under controlled conditions. Brian ulty members were appointed in association with Chair Moorman’s team is currently focusing on the development activities: Sean Carey, with expertise in hydrology, and of new geophysical techniques for imaging permafrost and Elyn Humphries, with interests in surface energy and mass glacier hydrology, studying the interaction between shal- fluxes. Sivan Parameswaran, who has a long-term interest low sea water, floating and bottom fast ice and sediment in the electrophysics of freezing soil is an adjunct member deposition and the impact on the thermal regime and of the Department. A large proportion of the research structure of permafrost in outer the Mackenzie Delta. One conducted under the Chair program has been in the Mac- of Masaki Hayashi’s foci is cold region hydrology investi- kenzie delta area and along Canada’s western Arctic coast. gations including studying water and energy cycles in the Some of this is a contribution to the IPA’s GTN-P IPY discontinuous permafrost region, hydraulic properties of project, providing temperature profiles in permafrost to peat, and snowmelt infiltration. With the increase in hy- depths of 50 m at Garry Island, Illisarvik, and Paulatuk drocarbon exploration and development in the Macken- (Northwest Territories), and Herschel Island, Old Crow, zie Delta, the CREWES group has been working on seis- Mayo and near Whitehorse (Yukon). This lead to several mic imaging in permafrost zones. Increased interest in papers on ground ice conditions in the Mackenzie delta manned exploration of Mars has lead to research by a team area (with our former Postdoctoral Fellow Steve Kokelj), lead by Rob Stewart to investigate the best way to explore and on the thermal regime of tundra and boreal lakes. for subsurface ice on Mars using shallow geophysical meth- The program is in collaboration with J.R. Mackay. The ods. This is being undertaken by using Mars analogues in September 2005 issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth the permafrost areas of northern Canada. Sciences published a joint publication summarizing over Benoit Beauchamp was recently appointed as the di- 50 years of observations on some of the best developed rector of Arctic Institute of North America (University of ventifacts in Canada, found near Paulatuk. Joint investi- Calgary). gations continue at Garry Island and Illisarvik each year An on-going study of massive ground ice in coarse- on the development of ice-wedge polygons, the response grained deposits and its implications for granular resource of permafrost to climate change, especially changes in snow inventories is being conducted in the Mackenzie Delta conditions, and the behaviour of sub-permafrost pore and Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands by Wayne Pollard and re- water during permafrost aggradation. searchers from McGill University in collaboration with At Carleton University, the current graduate-student Robert Gowan, Canadian Department of Indian Affairs projects in permafrost are largely conducted in partner- and Northern Development. Supported by PERD and ship with northern agencies, particularly the Department DIAND, this study addresses questions about the nature, of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Yukon origin, distribution, and significance of massive ground Department of Environment, and the Ekati diamond ice in deposits identified as potential sand and gravel bor- mine. Kumari Karunaratne (PhD) is working on perma- row sites. In 2004-05 fieldwork focused on capacitive cou- frost conditions in the Slave Province, north of Yellowknife, pled resistivity surveys at sites including the Ya-Ya Esker with an interest in permafrost aggradation into saturated borrow site (Richard’s Island), the Tuktoyaktuk local mine tailings. Peter Morse (PhD) is examining snow depth granular sites (E of Tuktoyaktuk Harbour), and the mas- variation in the outer Mackenzie delta and its association sive ice at Peninsula Point (SW of Tuktoyaktuk). This re- with changes in permafrost conditions. Mike Palmer (MSc) search formed the basis of an MSc thesis by Greg De has completed fieldwork on factors controlling changes Pascale (McGill University). in ground temperature across tree line near the western The McGill team lead by W. Pollard is also involved in Arctic coast. Julian Kanigan (MSc) and Thai Nguyen a project concerned with the sensitivity and rates of ero- (MSc) expect to work next summer on permafrost condi- sion of ice-rich coasts in the southern Beaufort Sea. This tions in the Mackenzie delta, particularly recent response project is funded by NSERC, NRCan and ARCTICNET to climate warming and the spatial distribution of unfrozen and is part of the Arctic Coastal Dynamics project. This ground within the delta. Pascale Roy-Léveillée (MSc) is study involves a combination of geophysical surveys, shal- studying the spatial distribution of snow in the Ogilvie low coring, mapping of coastal sections, remote sensing Mountains, and its relationship with plant distributions and modelling. Soil organic carbon content measurement and permafrost. Celina Ziegler (MSc) has started a project and carbon isotope analyses are used to assess potential on the use of isotopes for hydrograph separation in a small climate change feedbacks (Nicole Couture, Hugues drainage basin near Whitehorse. Lantuit, Greg De Pascale, Tim Haltigin, and M.D. Azhural The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), with sup- Hoque). port from the Government of Canada’s (GoC) Northern

Frozen Ground 19 Energy Development (NED) Program, has initiated a the Pingo Canadian Landmark to ascertain the elevation detailed inventory of landslides in the Mackenzie Valley of Ibyuk Pingo. between Inuvik and Tulita (Réjean Couture, Simon J.D. Mollard and Associates located and terrain Riopel). This new study initiative contributes to provid- mapped three alternative road routes, all originating in ing geoscience information for hydrocarbon exploration Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, with three destinations in north- and development in the Beaufort Sea, Mackenzie River ern Manitoba. All routings traverse the continuous and Delta, and Mackenzie Valley. To date, over 1800 land- widespread continuous permafrost zones. slides and other natural terrain hazard features (e.g. karst EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. (EBA) was retained sink holes, rock glaciers) were mapped in the study area to support Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) Reduc- and integrated into a GIS platform. At present, about 40% ing Canada’s Vulnerability to Climate Change Program of the study area was mapped using over 650 air photos within a study on «Sensitivity to Climate Change in North- acquired in 2004. The completion of the landslide map- west Territories Communities». Analyses were undertaken ping is expected by the end of 2006. to estimate the approximate timeframes when remediation/ As part of the NED Program, the GSC has also initi- adaptation of infrastructure might be required, and the ated a geotechnical project to investigate slope failure associated approximate costs. The building foundations mechanisms associated with landslides in the Mackenzie in communities in the Inuvik region are, as a group, the Valley (Baolin Wang, Susan Nichol, Xueqing Su). The most sensitive to climate change impacts. This area is char- objective of this project is to improve understanding of acterized by continuous, but warm permafrost. The small factors causing slope failure and landslide processes. Ini- communities in the southern Northwest Territories gen- tial site reconnaissance and preliminary site investigations erally exhibit relatively low sensitivity because permafrost have been conducted along the northern half of the Mac- is generally sporadically present in this area. kenzie Valley. More focused drilling, sampling and test- A detail permafrost map at a scale of 1:10,000 of Im- ing activities are planned. perial Oil’s TAGLU site located on Richards Island in the Field investigations continued in 2005 with investiga- Mackenzie Delta was compiled for the Mackenzie Gas tions of coastal permafrost in the vicinity of the Macken- Project by V. Roujanski of EBA Engineering based on zie Delta (Steve Solomon, Gavin Manson). Thermistor available geological, geotechnical and geophysical field data cables were installed in 10 m boreholes along an onshore- (gathered over a period of 30 years by EBA, R.M. HARDY, offshore transect. Ground penetrating radar (B. Moorman GSC and IORL), ground temperature monitoring and and C. Stevens, University of Calgary) and electrical re- aerial photography interpretation. The compiled perma- sistivity (W. Pollard and G. De Pascale) surveys revealed frost map synthesizes the collected data and shows the dramatic changes in the thickness and extent of ice-bonded interpreted spatial distribution of mean annual ground sediments. GPR surveys were also used to validate syn- temperatures, lithology, ground ice content, surficial ge- thetic aperture radar interpretations of the extent of ology and permafrost-related landforms. bottomfast ice. Summer surveys included shallow In March 2005, Don Hayley, Principal Engineer and boreholes to investigate sediment stratigraphy and pore Senior Vice President of EBA Engineering Consultants water geochemistry in areas of extensive dead vegetation. Ltd, member of the Canadian National Committee for One logger provided a unique record of nearshore tem- the IPA and member of the IPA Executive Committee, peratures from April to August. Surveys were also under- was awarded the Julian C. Smith Medal by the Engineer- taken in Tuktoyaktuk to monitor coastal erosion and in ing Institute of Canada. The award, the second most sen- ior award of the Institute which represents all the learned engineering societies in Canada, recognized Don’s contri- butions to the «development of Canada’s North». For fur- ther details and the full citation of the award, see: www.eic- ici.ca/english/tour/haf2 The application and environmental impact studies for the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project were filed in Octo- ber 2004 triggering the regulatory review process. The project will involve the development of three onshore natu- ral gas fields in the Mackenzie Delta, and the transport of natural gas and natural gas liquids via buried pipelines south through the continuous and discontinuous perma- frost regions of the Mackenzie valley to NW Alberta. Many permafrost scientists and engineers, from government, Fresh detachment failure developed due to rapid thaw on universities and the private sector, were actively involved the Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, August 2005. this last year either in the technical aspects of the project Photograph by Antoni Lewkowicz. investigations and design, or its Environmental Assess-

20 Frozen Ground ment review under a Joint Review Panel (JRP). For fur- CHINA ther information, see: www.ngps.nt.ca. In September 2005, the Government of Canada an- Permafrost research in China focused in 2005 on the nounced that it will provide $150 million in new funding construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway which will be over six years to support innovative, interdisciplinary re- completed by October 2005. The Cold and Arid Regions search for the International Polar Year (IPY). The targeted Environmental and Engineering Research Institute science and research program will focus on two of Cana- (CAREERI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was da’s most important challenges for its northern regions: involved in revisions of the pavement design for ordinary climate change impacts and adaptation, and the health embankment, as well as for viaducts on ice-rich, warm and well-being of northern communities. Funds will be permafrost, at an estimated cost of 1.7 billion Yuan (about allocated, through a competitive, peer-review process, to 200 millions USD). This research focuses mainly on field academic, government and private sector researchers. For and laboratory observations, in combination with numeri- additional information on IPY in Canada, see: www.ipy- cal simulations; it takes into account climatic warming api.ca and www.ualberta.ca/~ipy (Canadian Secretariat). scenarios. This research programme will come to an end As part of the APEGGA annual conference, a two-day in 2006, but monitoring the interactions of permafrost workshop «Permafrost Geophysics: A Workshop on Hy- and the railway will continue. Moreover, another impor- drocarbon Exploration in the Arctic» brought together in tant research programme supported by the Railway Min- April 2005 over 150 geoscientists interested in explora- istry, «Installation of long-term monitoring systems along tion in permafrost areas. Much of the workshop was dedi- Qinghai-Tibet Railroad», just started, with an estimated cated to improving our abilities at imaging the hydrocar- cost of 60 millions Yuan (about 7 millions USD). It in- bon structures in permafrost regions, however shallow volves soil temperature monitoring and foundation de- geophysics for geotechnical and environmental applica- formation at 76 railway cross-sections. tions was also discussed. The workshop received such an Some engineering investigations along highways on the overwhelming response, a CD of the presentations and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and in northeastern China were other material is currently being compiled for release in carried out to reduce problems linked to frost heaving 2006. and thaw settlement. A part of the oil pipeline from Rus- The University of British Columbia will host on Feb- sia was also discussed, with some preliminary permafrost ruary 17, 2006 a celebration and colloquium to mark the investigation along the proposed routes in northeastern legacy and continuing achievements of J. Ross Mackay in China. A preliminary survey of frost heaving of founda- commemoration of his 90th birthday. Six short lectures, tion soils, along the ambient temperature product oil pipe- chosen to represent various aspects of J. Ross Mackay’s line from Golmud to Lhasa, was conducted jointly by the career, will be delivered during the day, and other contri- Corps of Engineers of the People’s Republic of China and butions will be presented in a poster session. There will be CAREERI. a dinner following the colloquium. The celebration is spon- The Institute of Tibetan Plateau (ITP), CAS, was es- sored by the Department of Geography at UBC, the tablished in 2004, with its headquarters in Lhasa, Tibet, NSERC Northern Chair in Permafrost in the Yukon and two branch offices in Beijing and Kunming, and a faculty Northwest Territories, and the Canadian National Com- body of about 30 that is undergoing rapid growth. The mittee for the IPA. All are invited to attend and partici- ITP focuses on terrestrial processes, including the geo- pate in this celebration, but are advised to register physics of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, land-surface proc- before February 1, 2006. Full details are available at esses, biodiversity and endangered species. Three field sta- www.geog.ubc.ca/mackay2006 tions were established in the Namcuo Lake (for lacustrine The CNC-IPA is co-sponsoring a permafrost session processes), Linzhi (for forest ecosystems), and Dingri (for at the upcoming Geological Association of Canada an- alpine tundra) near Mount Everest. Alpine permafrost is nual meeting scheduled for May 2007 in Yellowknife, found above 5800 m in the Namcuo Lake and Dingri NWT. This conference represents an opportunity for the areas; it will be studied within research projects linked to Canadian permafrost community to get together prior to the long-term programmes and the recently granted Na- the Ninth International Conference on Permafrost in tional 973 Key Program «Cryosphere and Global Change Fairbanks. For further information, see: www. on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau». The programme «Evolu- nwtgeoscience.ca/gac_mac tion of the QTP since the Holocene and its Relationship The semi-annual Coastal Zone Canada conference will with Ecosystems» also includes some permafrost research be held in Tuktoyaktuk in August 2006. The venue will projects focusing on active layer processes, carbon pools focus coastal investigators and managers on Arctic issues. in permafrost and greenhouse gases emissions. A session on Arctic coastal processes and infrastructures is The CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics in being planned along with a field trip to the Tuktoyaktuk Beijing, the Institute of Earth Environment in Xi’an, area. For further information, see: www.czc06.ca CAREERI, and Lanzhou University are conducting re- Margo Burgess ([email protected]) search on lacustrine sediments and aeolian deposits on

Frozen Ground 21 the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau near Qinghai Lake, Qidam KVUG (The Commission for Scientific Investigations in Basin, and in the western part of the QTP. The Greenland). Climate models are predicting a pronounced desertification processes and wind erosion, as well as ero- increase in air temperatures along the coasts of Greenland sion linked to frost and thawing processes, are some of due to global warming. Here in towns like Sisimiut and the dominant processes in Tibet, which is the third largest Ilulissat, located in discontinuous permafrost areas, the desertic province (autonomous region of China). subsurface will respond with a degradation of permafrost The Harbin Institute of Technology, Transportation affecting conditions for town planning and foundation of Research and Hydraulic Science Research established in existing and future buildings, roads, sewers, etc. The 2005 a new geotechnical engineering laboratory dedicated project is presently being extended to cover «Recent and to frozen soil mechanics and engineering. A field station future permafrost variability, retreat and degradation in on seasonally frozen ground was also established in Harbin Greenland and Alaska» in an integrated approach together for hydraulic and road engineering purposes in northeast- with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (Vladimir ern China. The observations collected will be quite im- Romanovsky and John Walsh). portant for the proposed and presently in-design Daqing The University of Copenhagen, Institute of Geogra- to Shenyang Express Highway, which requires «no heave phy, maintains two automatic meteorological stations on or settlement». the west coast of Disko Island (Greenland): one close to The First Asian Conference on Permafrost is in prepa- the Arctic Station (Godhavn), the other in Mellemfjord. ration and will include some major activities. Guodong Meteorological data are available since 1998 from: http:/ /www.nat.ku.dk/as/ny_homepage/engelskudgave/ Cheng, Jerry Brown, Hans Hubberten, Michael Davies framesetuk/as_mainuk.htm and many other local and international organizers have The National Environmental Research Institute, the met to plan the Conference, while attending the April Danish Polar Center and the Institute of Geography, CliC Conference in Beijing, during the EUCOP II con- University of Copenhagen are continuing their detailed ference in Potsdam, and in Lanzhou. Several workshops monitoring at Zackenberg Ecological Research Station in and excursions will focus on the classification of perma- high Arctic Northeast Greenland. This database is dedi- frost of Central Asia and the contributions of borehole cated to snow, permafrost, soil temperatures in the active measurements to the International Polar Year. layer, soil water and carbon dioxide content, etc. Data are A meeting on ecological and sustainable development available at Geobasis, Zackenberg for the period 1995- of the sources of the Yellow and Yangtze River was organ- 2004: http://www.dmu.dk/International/Arctic/ ized in Xining, Qinghai Province; with permafrost as one Climate+change/ZackenbergDB of the major topics, had large success. The Chinese gov- The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland ernment is indeed spending 7.5 billions Yuan (about 1 (GEUS) carried out permafrost studies in the Mestervig billion USD) in ecological mitigation in order to solve area of East Greenland. the problem of overgrazed grasslands. The Conference on Studies of the ice cores from the Greenlandic Ice Sheet High Elevation Glaciers and Climatic Change was suc- (Dorte Dahl Jensen) were carried out within various in- cessfully held September 5-9, 2005. Another conference ternational research programmes. Information is available on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was held in Guilin, Guangxi at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/greenland Zhuang Autonomous Region in October 2005. «Snow and temperature control of biogeochemical Wei Ma ([email protected]) oxidation processes in natural and managed High Arctic and Huijun Jin ([email protected]) ecosystems» is a research project funded by the Danish Natural Science Research Council (2004-2006), led by Bo Elberling, Institute of Geography, University of Co- DENMARK penhagen. The project focuses on management of heat The Society of Arctic Technology (SAT) arranged meet- generating coal mining waste and dispersal of contami- ings with Danish and Greenlandic and foreign experts nants in a permafrost area near Longyearbyen, Svalbard. related to technologies adapted to the special climatic, This project runs in co-operation with UNIS and the lo- geological and social relations in Polar Regions. In 2004- cal coal company, Store Norske. 2005 climate change and permafrost was addressed at a In 2005 preparations for the International Polar Year number of meetings. SAT is the national contact for Den- (IPY) were very much in focus. The Danish National mark to the IPA. Committee consists of 15 members from all relevant po- A pilot project «Permafrost degradation and lar research areas in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Green- infrastructural consequences in West Greenland» was ini- land. It has recommended focusing on the following three tiated in 2004 by the Danish Meteorological Institute themes: 1) Arctic Climate – variability, changes and ef- (DMI represented by Jens H. Christensen), the Danish fects, 2) Greenland Inland Ice – a key to knowledge and Technical University, Center for Arctic Technology 3) People, Nature and Arctic Societies. Permafrost topics (ARTEK-DTU, Niels Foged) and the Greenland Survey will be covered by several projects in the first theme. (ASIAQ, Keld H. Svendsen) and is partly supported by Niels Foged ([email protected])

22 Frozen Ground FRANCE Brigitte Van Vliet-Lanoë (University Lille-1) analysed permafrost and topographic changes in the period 1994- In Caen (team CNRS-UMR 6143), a new programme 2005 at her field sites in Adventdalen and in the surround- funded by the INSU/CNRS (Programme National «Re- ing region of Ny-Ålesund (Svalbard) in the context of re- lief de la Terre» 2004) studies the role of debris flows on cent climatic investigation, with financial support from slope degradation in periglacial environments (J.L. IPEV (Institut Polaire Français). B. Van Vliet-Lanoë Lagarde, M. Font, J.P. Lautridou and E. Vedié). A physi- ([email protected]) also published cal model was developed and data from experimental « La Planète des Glaces » (Publisher Vuibert, 488 p., ISBN: freeze-thaw cycles prove the efficiency of periglacial proc- 2-7117-5377-8), a reference book in French about cold esses as controls on both erosion and scarp morphology environments. On the basis of her 30-years long interdis- changes. The experimental results are consistent with field ciplinary research in the Arctic and in high mountain en- data acquired in northwest France, and show that vironments, she summarizes the characteristics of past and periglacial erosion processes in moist conditions could lead present cold environments in a wide range of fields: geol- to underestimation of Plio-Quaternary deformations at ogy, glaciology, geomorphology, permafrost research, soil mid-latitudes. A new experiment will address Martian sciences, climatology, biology and ecology. Many figures gullies in cooperation with F. Costard (UMR8148 IDES, and pictures illustrate this book; it presents a glossary and CNRS - Université Paris XI). The objective is to simulate a bibliography where an international audience can ob- debris flows over sand dunes similar to the ones observed tain an interesting insight in French natural science pub- on Mars. lications. A programme from the Cardiff group (Charles Harris) aims at the physical modelling of mass-movement proc- François Costard ([email protected]) esses on permafrost slopes. Both full-scale (Caen refriger- ated tanks) and small-scale physical modelling (Cardiff geotechnical centrifuge) should be developed to investi- GERMANY gate mass movement processes in clay-rich soils and at steeper gradients. One of the most prominent German permafrost ac- The Hydro-sensor-FLOWS project (2006-2009), en- tivities in 2005 was the Second European Conference on dorsed by the IPY Joint Committee, aims at investigating Permafrost (EUCOP II) hosted by the Alfred Wegener the hydrology of the Austre Lovenbreen Glacier basin Institute (AWI) for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam (Svalbard) by continuous monitoring using new informa- (see report in Global and Regional Activities). tion and communication technologies. The project is co- Field activities organized by the Periglacial Research ordinated by Madeleine Griselin (UMR Thema CNRS - section of the AWI Potsdam mainly focused in 2005 on Université de Franche-Comté) and Christelle Marlin Siberia (6 expeditions), Alaska (1) and Antarctica (1). (UMR8148 IDES CNRS - Université Paris-Sud 11). Liq- An offshore permafrost drilling campaign was per- uid and solid fluxes will be measured on a typical polar formed in the Western Laptev Sea in April 2005 by the hydrological system with a sensor web (both remote and AWI Potsdam, the Permafrost Institute (Yakutsk), the in situ sensing). Space and time dynamics over a four-year Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (St. Petersburg) period will also be monitored to better understand the and the Geoscience Institute of Bremen University in the system reaction to contemporary climatic fluctuations. expedition COAST. The second meeting of the European Science Founda- The expedition «Lena Delta 2005» took place from tion Network SEDIFLUX was organized by the polar team July to September in cooperation between the Institute of of the Research Group CNRS UMR 6042 GEOLAB in Soil Science (Hamburg University), the Permafrost Insti- Clermont-Ferrand in January 2005. The international tute in Yakutsk, the Lena Delta Reserve, the Geological conference «Shifting lands. New insights into periglacial Faculty of Moscow State University, the Arctic and Ant- geomorphology» welcomed more than 80 participants arctic Research Institute and the State University of St. from 20 countries, and included five plenary lectures by Petersburg. A group led by D. Wagner and E.-M. Pfeiffer Hugh French, Colin Ballantyne, John Dixon, Colin Thorn pursued the long-term measurements of energy, water and Kevin Hall. Special issues of the journals of balance and greenhouse gas emissions in tundra soils on Geomorphology (edited by Denis Mercier and Samuel Samoylov Island including eddy-covariance instruments, Etienne) and Géomorphologie (edited by S. Etienne) will closed chamber gas flux measurements and gas chroma- be dedicated to this meeting. tography. Additionally, a main focus of this group was to A new program was launched in southern Iceland in document the relationship between the carbon budget and summer 2005 to study the evolution of the proglacial the structure and function of microbial live communities floodplains (sandurs) of the Solheimajökull, Morsarjökull in permafrost soils. A second group investigated perma- and Brokarjökull (Marie-Françoise André, Samuel Etienne, frost sequences in sediment cores and exposures for palaeo- Denis Mercier, Raphaël Paris and PhD student Erwan environmental archives and conducted studies of Roussel). thermokarst-affected landscapes (M.N. Grigoriev, L.

Frozen Ground 23 Schirrmeister). Objectives included understanding the time Antarctica, in early 2005 and included permafrost Quaternary history of Arga Island, a large sand complex research. The evolution, ecology and survival of micro- characterized by the presence of numerous oriented lakes, bial communities were studied by D. Wagner. The main and collection of surface properties and corresponding objectives were the genotypic and phenotypic characteri- spectral signatures by field spectrometry. These data sets zation of the microbial communities in time and space, will be further related to remotely sensed data, to develop including cultivation-independent methods and the iso- automatic analytical methods for arctic periglacial land- lation and characterization of keystone organisms from scape analyses. A further goal was to reconstruct the envi- different habitats for studying their physiology, adapta- ronmental conditions during the deposition of the first tion strategies, and survival in extreme environments. Sedi- Lena River terrace (mid to late Holocene). mentary permafrost was surveyed on Hurd Peninsula in A Russian-German joint project on palaeolimnology the vicinity of the Bulgarian base (St. Kliment Okhridski). in Yakutia is currently in progress at AWI Potsdam (B. The area has been ice-free only for some decades. Ground Diekmann, U. Herzschuh) with partners from the Eco- penetrating radar (GPR) and sedimentologic verification logical Institute, University of Yakutsk (L. Pestryakova) were used by G. Schwamborn for profiling the transition and the Limnological Institute, Russian Academy of Sci- from unfrozen to frozen ground. Permafrost generally ence, St. Petersburg (D. Subetto). During the field cam- occurs at altitudes higher than 30 m asl. paign in spring 2005, several sediment cores of late Studies on permafrost distribution, sensitivity and sig- Pleistocene to Holocene age were recovered from Lake nificance in the Turtmann Valley (Valais, Switzerland) are Billyakh in the Verkhoyansk Mountains. In addition, continued by the group of R. Dikau (University of Bonn). limnoecological studies were carried out during the sum- Within the DFG Research Training Group «Landform - a mer 2005 in thermokarst lakes in the vicinity of Yakutsk structured and variable boundary layer» (Central Yakutia) and in lakes in the Momskii region (Graduiertenkolleg 437), two Ph.D. theses were presented (Northeast Yakutia). Studies on the recent ecology of ter- in 2005 (see: http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/diss_online): one restrial vegetation in Central and Northeast Yakutia were by I. Roer entitled «Rockglacier kinematics in a high conducted by AWI-Potsdam (F. Kienast) in cooperation mountain geosystem» and the other one by M. Nyenhuis with the chair of Geobotany of the Yakutsk State Univer- dealing with permafrost distribution mapping and mod- sity (P.A. Gogoleva) to better interpret the occurrence of elling in connection to sediment budget aspects. J.-C. Otto botanical fossils in Quaternary permafrost deposits. Fur- is continuing his investigations on sediment storage quan- thermore, recent seeds, fruits, and herbarium material were tification and visualization in the periglacial zone of the collected to provide a reference for the identification of Turtmann Valley. M. Krautblatter started his thesis enti- plant fossils. Those were primarily associated with steppes tled «Changes in permafrost distribution in alpine rock and alpine communities, although aquatic, riparian, and walls and their implications for mass movements and sedi- wetland vegetation were also included. ment budgets». I. Roer started to compile in collabora- Low altitude remote sensing and permafrost hydro- tion with colleagues from Switzerland (A. Kääb, R. logical work was carried out in the Northern Foothills of Delaloye, C. Lambiel), France (X. Bodin, E. Thibert), the Brooks Range (Toolik Field Station, Alaska) in Au- Austria (M. Avian, V. Kaufmann) and Germany (B. gust 2005, as part of the continued cooperation between Damm, M. Langer), an inventory of European Alps rock AWI Potsdam and the Water and Environment Research glaciers, which show increased surface velocities. Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The Department of Physical Geography, University Following a Bulgarian initiative, the expedition of Würzburg (C. Kneisel) is assessing changes in active «Livingston 2005» took place on Livingston Island, mari- layer and permafrost thickness by geoelectrical techniques in the Swiss Alps. Geoelectrical and temperature moni- toring continues at a discontinuous and a sporadic per- mafrost site in the Upper Engadin. Geophysical and geomorphological permafrost investigations in a subarctic alpine environment in northern Sweden also continued. Investigation of permafrost distribution and charac- teristics in the Vernagt- and Guslarferner area (Ötztal, Austria) started in collaboration with the Commission for Glaciology of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Hu- manities in Munich (L. Braun). In collaboration with T. Saemundsson (Natural Re- search Centre of Northwestern Iceland, Saudårkrokur), investigation of mountain permafrost occurrences and Participants of the Black Forest meeting. characteristics began at different sites in Iceland. Photograph by Christof Kneisel. At the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research,

24 Frozen Ground University of Karlsruhe, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (C. ITALY Hauck), geophysical monitoring approaches (using elec- trical resistivity tomography and refraction seismic tom- The activities of the Italian IPA group include differ- ography) are developed to detect climate induced perma- ent topics: mainly relict periglacial features in the Apen- frost thaw in high mountain areas. By combining repeated nines; permafrost distribution and monitoring, and periglacial features in the Alps. Moreover, Italians research- electrical and seismic measurements, changes in ground ers are deeply involved in the Italian Antarctic Research ice content can be detected. Field studies are conducted Project. at various permafrost sites in the Swiss Alps in collabora- A project lead by Mauro Guglielmin (Insubria Uni- tion with the Universities of Würzburg, Jena, Bonn, versity) about permafrost, ecosystems and climate change Giessen and Zürich. In the future, the geophysical moni- is running until the 2006/2007 Antarctic season with four toring approach will be tested and implemented within main research goals: permafrost and active layer monitor- the Permafrost Monitoring of Switzerland (PERMOS) ing, active layer and vegetation relationships, ground ice programme. distribution and ice wedges dynamics, granite weathering The group of L. King (University of Giessen) finished processes. Some results of these research have already been the DFG-sponsored project «Periglazial Mattertal», which published, and presented at conferences. During the last investigated the influence of surface types typical for high Antarctic campaign, a new CALM grid and an automatic mountain environments on the ground thermal regime. active layer monitoring station were established on Signy Major outcome was the prominent role of cover layers Island in cooperation with the British Antarctic Survey, consisting of coarse material. Turbulent air fluxes in the very close to the site where Chambers in the 1960s stud- block layer through mainly free convection could be iden- ied periglacial features and measured the active layer. Dur- tified as the most important single process, which caused ing the 2005/06 summer, a drilling and coring program is a surface offset in a range of -2 to -3.5° C at instrumented planned in cooperation with New Zealand researchers test sites (S. Philippi, T. Herz). The consideration of this (Megan Balks and Jackie Aislabie) at Marble Point and effect in an empirical-statistical model led to a further Bull Pass (Dry Valleys) to enlarge the Antarctic perma- improvement in the estimation of permafrost distribution frost monitoring network within the ANTPAS framework. for the test areas Zermatt-Gornergrat and Grächen- In Italy, the project «Cryoalp», led by M. Guglielmin Seetalhorn (R. Hof). and supported by the Italian Institute of Mountain Re- J. Völkel, M. Leopold and T. Raab from the group search, started last year and aims at studying permafrost Landscape Ecology and Soil Science (University of ground ice (as a potential palaeoclimate archive) and the Regensburg) were invited by D. Dethier (Williams Col- hydrology of high mountain permafrost areas. Within lege at Williamstown, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) together «Cryoalp», three new boreholes ranging between 15 and with N. Caine (University of Colorado at Boulder, U.S.A.), 24 m deep were equipped with automatic permafrost to do field studies in the Rocky Mountains Front Ranges monitoring stations and the Stelvio PACE borehole equip- in Colorado. While staying at the Mountain Research Sta- ment was improved. tion of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research In the Aosta Valley (NW Italy), the Insubria Univer- (INSTAAR) in July 2005, the group collected subsurface sity and ARPA continued collaboration leading to the in- data using ground penetrating radar and seismic meth- strumentation of a CALM grid and two boreholes (6 and ods. The study areas are located at Niwot Ridge, which is 43 m deep) close to Cervinia, and to the set-up of rock the long-term monitoring site of INSTAAR. All areas are temperature monitoring on the south face of Matterhorn, above 3300 m and offer climatic conditions prone to per- to better understand the high rock fall frequency that has mafrost occurrence. Field work concentrated on patchy characterized this rock face for the last four years, and permafrost of a lobe on top of Niwot Ridge. Rock glaciers particularly in the summer of 2003. were studied at Green Lake and Valley 4th of July, with Adriano Ribolini continued monitoring the active layer more than 1.5 km of GPR-lines and several Refraction of some rock glaciers in the Maritime Alps. His geophysi- Seismic lines. cal studies of the internal structure of rock glaciers of that A mountain permafrost workshop took place in the area, such as the Schiantala rock glacier, will allow him to Black Forest, October 15-16, 2005, coordinated by C. define the relationships between rock glacier and glacier Kneisel, C. Hauck and I. Roer. Scientists from the uni- evolution in the Maritime Alps. versities of Bonn, Giessen, Karlsruhe, Würzburg and Graz Marco Firpo and Cristiano Queirolo are studying rel- reported on their actual research activities and agreed on ict block streams and block fields around Mont Beigua joint field work in summer 2006. Direct enquiries to: C. (Genova area), describing the surface morphology using Hauck ([email protected]). high-resolution systems and analysing the relationships Thomas Herz and Lorenz King between the local geology and the distribution pattern of ([email protected]) these block accumulations. The AIGEO group on Periglacial Relict Features has finished its experimentation of a new systematic

Frozen Ground 25 sedimentological and morphological approach to site, a 15 m deep borehole was drilled into a rock glacier periglacial deposits in the Apennines. Fabio Scarciglia and in the Longyear valley and instrumented with thermal others analysed granite weathering in Calabria and proved cables and inclinometers (N. Matsuoka, M. Ishikawa, Y. the influence of some periglacial processes on soil forma- Fukai, T. Watanabe, H.H. Christiansen, O. Humlum and tions in the Southern Italian Apennines. L. Kristensen). Subsurface environment below periglacial In cooperation with the Stelvio National Park, topography was also explored by two-dimensional Nicoletta Cannone pursued her research on the relation- geoelectrical sounding and soil-moisture profiling. ships between periglacial features such as polygons, rock The inter-college study group «Colloquium of Cold glacier, solifluction lobes and vegetation colonization, es- Region Geomorphology» has continued over 30 years. pecially in the Central Italian Alps. Moreover, she contin- Managed by young scientists and students, the activity ues a long-term monitoring of scree slopes dynamics and involves regular and special meetings, field schools and vegetation colonization within the permafrost belt. publications of trade books. Professor Takashi Koaze, who was one of the founders of this group and has long led Mauro Guglielmin ([email protected]) glacial and periglacial geomorphology in Japan, officially retired from Meiji University in March 2005. In honour of Takashi, his former students have organized a book in JAPAN Japanese, entitled «Learning from Mountains», beautifully In Alaska, a project on «2004 Forest Fire Impacts to designed with a large number of colour photographs of Hydrological Cycles, Permafrost and Ecosystems in Cen- mountain landscapes (published from Kokon-shoin, To- tral Alaska» started in 2005 to monitor permafrost condi- kyo). tions after the severe wildfires of 2004 (K. Harada, Miyagi Norikazu Matsuoka University; Y. Sawada and J. Mori, Hokkaido University). ([email protected]) Observations were carried out at Poker Flat near Fairbanks in May and August. Further observations were conducted in July at Kougarok near Nome, Seward Peninsula, where KAZAKHSTAN wildfires occurred in 1997 and 2002. Geophysical sound- The book The Treasures of Frozen Burial Mounds of the ing was undertaken to investigate permafrost distributions Kazakh Altai by A. Gorbunov, Z. Samashev and E. and conditions. Measurements also involved thermal and Seversky was published in 2005 in English. The first water conditions in the active layer and ground surface geocryological map of Kazakhstan (scale 1: 5,000,000) levels. These observations will be continued for three years was compiled by A.P. Gorbunov and E.V. Seversky. to obtain data on the variations of permafrost conditions The study of how permafrost and unfrozen ground after the wildfires. react to rapid glacier retreat has been undertaken in the A study on rock glaciers also continues in the Brooks Northern Tien Shan by researchers from the Kazakhstan Range and Alaska Range (A. Ikeda and K. Yoshikawa). Alpine Permafrost Laboratory (KAPL). This team con- The distribution, structure and thermal conditions of rock tinues its study of cryogenic processes and slope evolu- glaciers were investigated in the arid part of Alaska, to tion in the Zailiysky Alatau Range (Northern Tien Shan compare the long-term dynamics of the rock glaciers with Mountains), the KAPL also continues the thermal moni- that in relatively warm and humid mountains. Prelimi- toring of permafrost and seasonally frozen ground. nary results indicate that snow cover thickness and dura- In cooperation with University of Alaska Fairbanks, a tion control the supersaturation of ice in rock glaciers. composite digital permafrost map of part of the Central In eastern Tibet, research continues on «Permafrost Asian regions was compiled, based on the existing IPA Hydrology in the Source Area of Yellow River» (N. map, Chinese maps and computer-based models for Mon- Matsuoka, A. Ikeda, T. Sueyoshi, T. Ishii and Y. Uchida). In the fourth year of the 5-year project, year-round data golia, Russian and the four Central-Asian Republics on frozen ground were collected from the observatory at (Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). The Madoi (4273 m asl) established in 2004. On the Tibetan map includes the mountain territory of the Central-Asian Plateau, one-dimensional geoelectrical survey was con- Republics (Pamir, Tien Shan and Altai Mountains, ducted at a number of localities with different altitudes Djungar Alatau and Saur). The map shows the perma- (3200 - 4700 m asl). The data, combined with seismic frost extent based both on empirical evidence and on and ground surface temperature data, suggest that per- modelling estimates. The modelling approach takes into mafrost is lacking or sporadically remaining at depth as account the most important environmental controls of relict below 4300 m asl, although previous maps have permafrost distribution in Central Asia: air temperature, characterised the region as having continuous permafrost. amount of short-wave solar radiation, snow cover, vegeta- The Japanese-Norwegian joint project on «Construct- tion, and soil properties. The map was presented at the ing model experimental sites for periglacial processes» First CliC Conference in Beijing, April 2005. This pres- started in 2004 and continues in Svalbard. In 2005, in entation was aimed at continuing a discussion within the addition to collecting the first-year data at an ice-wedge international permafrost community concerning the de-

26 Frozen Ground velopment of a uniform mapping legend and approach in order to prepare an annual report on Hovsgol perma- for the Central Asian. Moreover, the following question frost studies under B. Etzelmuller’s consultation. She spent should be raised: can this mapping approach and legend five weeks at the University of Delaware under the super- be applied to other mountain regions of the world, or is it vision of F. Nelson and N. Shiklomanov to learn CALM unique to Central Asia? techniques for analysing Mongolian CALM and GTN-P In 2004, research on thermal regime and ice forma- data. She made a presentation entitled «Monitoring of tion dynamics within a coarse blocky material was acti- Permafrost in the Hovsgol Mountain Region, Mongolia» vated again in the Zailiysky Alatau Range (Northern Tien at the Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Un- Shan). The first results indicate that ice formation linked ion in San Francisco. We extend our gratitude to the Neth- to infiltration shows a peak in March-April when air tem- erlands Government for financial support of the Hovsgol perature above the blocky material crosses the zero thresh- GEF project. old, and while temperature is still negative inside the blocky The Japanese and Mongolian ERONIAR project con- material. During this period, the increase in ice thickness tinued for its fourth year in the Nalaikh and Terelj areas reaches 50 - 100 cm. near Ulaanbaatar. In collaboration with M. Ishikawa and In June 2005, two boreholes at 3000 m asl were T. Katoda, N. Sharkhuu and Battogtokh downloaded every equipped with new dataloggers with the support from the month temperature data from two automatic weather sta- CALM program. This elevation can be considered as a tions and carried out levelling measurements at several lower limit of short-term permafrost formation within the shallow boreholes in order to study spring icing dynamics fine-grained soils in the Northern Tien Shan Mountains. and snow cover in the Terelj study area. In addition at the A vegetation cover such as juniper has a large influence on Nalaikh site, 7-m deep boreholes were monitored monthly the ground thermal regime. Sometimes the difference in in order to assess frozen ground hydrology. ground temperature at a depth of three meters under ju- N. Sharkhuu continued permafrost monitoring in niper shrub can be 2-3° C lower than in a meadow area. Mongolia. In May 2005, he extended the observations in Previous research shows that the permafrost can exist dur- four boreholes located in the Darkhad depression near ing the summer under these conditions at a depth of 3.5- Lake Hovsgol. A new 15-m deep borehole was drilled at 5.0 m. The formation of a frozen layer depends also on the site of the one used in 1989. Two 5-m deep boreholes snow cover and air temperature. were drilled for monitoring the active layer, frost heaving and thaw settlement. In addition, an 85-m deep active Aldar Gorbunov ([email protected]) borehole was located and instrumented for the CALM and Sergei Marchenko ([email protected]) and GTN-P observations. There are currently 35 CALM and GTN-P boreholes in Mongolia. Sixteen boreholes are instrumented with temperature dataloggers. In addition, MONGOLIA the dynamics of cryogenic processes and seasonal frost are The Hovsgol GEF (Global Environment Facility) monitored at some sites. project including permafrost studies continues for the Within the framework of the project on Central Asian fourth year in the six valleys entering the eastern shore of permafrost mapping, N. Sharkhuu is developing initial Lake Hovsgol. Within the framework of this project, N. data for compiling a permafrost map of Mongolia. In Sep- Sharkhuu and Sh. Anarmaa obtained the following data tember 2005, he obtained year-round datalogger record- this year: year-round datalogger recording of ground tem- ings of soil surface temperatures at elevations between 2000 peratures in 14 shallow (5-10 m deep) boreholes; summer and 3400 m asl on the Tsambagarav Mountain, in the and autumn measurements of ground temperatures in Altai region and at elevations between 1300 and 2250 m more than 20 shallow boreholes; year-round datalogger asl on the Bogd Mountain near Ulaanbaatar. These ob- recording of soil surface temperatures at seven sites with servations are continued in the Khangai and Khentii different vegetation covers; experimental observation of mountains. the thermal impact of cutting dense grass cover on per- N. Sharkhuu plans to participate in the IPA-IPY Per- mafrost; spring and autumn levelling measurements of mafrost Observatory Projects titled «Thermal State of Per- frost heaving and thaw settlement of pingos and active mafrost» and «Trans-North-Eastern Siberian Permafrost layers at eight sites; and winter observations of spring ic- Observations» (M. Ishikawa, Japan). ing dynamics and snow covers at 15 sites. In August 2005, We regret to announce that Dr. D. Tumurbaatar died Bernd Etzelmuller (University of Oslo, Norway) carried in October 2005 at an age of 65 years. He worked as a out within the project area resistivity tomography meas- permafrost researcher at the Institute of Geography, MAS, urements at about 20 sites with different elevations, topo- since 1967, after graduating from Moscow State Univer- graphic aspect, vegetation cover and soil moisture. We sity (PhD in 1990). He was the head of the permafrost collected more detailed observations on permafrost along laboratory at the Institute for the period 1979 to 2003 the study transect in Dalbay valley. The young researcher and president of the Mongolian Permafrost Association Sh. Anarmaa visited the University of Oslo for four weeks since 1995. D. Tumurbaatar was the author of several

Frozen Ground 27 books and a number of publications on permafrost stud- changes at rapid climate transitions, also funded by NWO. ies in Mongolia. Some of his publications are in Russian The later project is scheduled to start at the end of 2005. and English. Direct enquiries to: J. van Huissteden (ko.van.huissteden @geo.falw.vu.nl) Natsagdorj Sharkhuu ([email protected]) Jef Vandenberghe ([email protected])

THE NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND During the Alterra (Wageningen) expedition to Taimyr New Zealand was delighted to be accepted as a full (northern Siberia) by Bart Ebbinge, the depth of active member of the IPA at the council meeting held at the layer was investigated. On August 13 to 15, 200 depth EUCOP II. We thank Antarctic New Zealand for the fi- measurements were made with a simple steel probe at 10- nancial support that made this possible. Ian Campbell and m intervals over a straight 2-km long N-S transect on Megan Balks from New Zealand attended the meeting nearly level tundra at Cape East (Wostochny), Taimyr, and appreciated the warm welcome from the IPA. northern Siberia (74° 06' N, 86° 44' E). Due to stoniness In order to standardise our approach to soil descrip- in the soil at some places, the frozen soil was not always tion across Antarctica, Malcolm McLeod (Landcare Re- reached. The following preliminary conclusions can be search, New Zealand) and Megan Balks have been work- drawn: ing with Jim Bockheim (U.S.A.) to develop a minimum • Different vegetation revealed different depth of the data set and manual for describing Antarctic soils as part frozen soil but on average the thawing front was at of the ANTPAS project. A draft of the manual is cur- 45 cm under the level surface; rently out for comment among the ANTPAS members. • In micropolygons with bare clay surface the soil was We have also developed the ANTPAS website which is thawed deeper (up to 55 cm) than around those with being hosted by the University of Waikato (http:// Dryas and Cassiopea; erth.waikato.ac.nz/antpas/). • In wet places thawing was deeper (45 cm) under the Erica Hofstee (Earth Sciences, University of Waikato) grassy vegetation than under the moss hummocks is currently completing a soil map of the Seabee Hook (Sphagnum) spread over these places (less than 40 area of Cape Hallet in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica cm). as part of her MSc study. This will be the first published This project is carried out by Roeland Bom & Bas Antarctic soil map that we know of since that of JD Pedroli. McCraw for the Taylor Valley published in 1968. This The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (Department of Austral summer Malcolm McLeod and Jim Bockheim plan Hydrology and Geo-Environmental Sciences) investigates carbon and water exchange of taiga and tundra ecosys- tems in eastern Siberia, in collaboration with the Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Yakutsk. Measurements are using eddy correlation systems and soil flux chambers in a larch / birch forest near Yakutsk (Spasskaya Pad Field Station) and on a tundra site near Chokhurdakh in the Indigyrka lowlands (Kytalyk reserve). In 2004 and 2005, this research was extended with flux chamber measurements of methane fluxes and a survey of active layer thickness and temperature. The aim is to esti- mate the annual exchange rates and their interannual vari- ability, and to determine the sensitivity to environmental factors of the fluxes. The present flux data show consider- able inter-annual variability. In the tundra site, summer 2005 was a relatively dry year with lower methane fluxes than in 2004. The 2005 campaign has been funded by the Vrije Universiteit and NWO (Dutch Organisation of Scientific Research) and is a continuation of research in the EU TCOS (Terrestrial Carbon Observation System) project. The methane flux measurements will also be used in a Erica Hofstee watched by inquisitive locals as she makes modelling study on last glacial climate and permafrost notes during her soil and permafrost studies at Cape Hallet, Antarctica. Photograph by Megan Balks.

28 Frozen Ground to continue their soil mapping work in the Wright Valley proved registering of timing of movement. This was done and Megan Balks will be working with Mauro Guglielmin in cooperation with UNIS (H.H. Christiansen). (see Italian report) to drill and instrument two boreholes The Geological Survey of Norway also continues long- for permafrost temperature monitoring at existing soil cli- term research on mass transfer, denudation, sediment mate monitoring sites at Marble Point and in the Wright budget and relief development in four catchments in sub- Valley in the Ross Sea Region of Antarctica. arctic and arctic environments in Iceland and Lapland (A. Megan Balks ([email protected]) Beylich). Research is focussed on an integrated study of source-to-sink-sediment fluxes, including monitoring of NORWAY surface processes, analysis of sinks, permafrost analysis, analyses of surface processes and vegetation cover. A new The Norwegian Geotechnical Society has established monitoring programme is started in Erdalen, Norway. A. a Committee on Frost in Ground chaired by Ivar Horvli Beylich is coordinating the ESF Network SEDIFLUX (see: (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), with www.ngu.no/sediflux). members from the scientific and the engineering com- In Jotunheimen, southern Norway, temperature data munity. The committee is in contact with institutions from the Juvvasshøe PACE borehole (established in 1999) within research, education and practical applications. The are collected, and on Dovrefjell, southern Norway, tem- focus is on «Science and technology in cold regions» cov- perature data are collected along a transect through the ering permafrost and seasonal frost. Planned activities in- permafrost transition zone, from 11 boreholes drilled and clude lectures, short courses, conferences and to issue an instrumented in October 2001 in cooperation between annual publication. The first publication Frost in Ground the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Univer- 2005 was printed with support from the Norwegian Pub- sity of Oslo (K. Isaksen, R.S. Ødegård, T. Eiken and J.L. lic Road Administration. It contains 11 articles mainly in Sollid). Borehole temperature data are collected within a Norwegian with English summaries. The committee acts long-term climatic monitoring programme run by the as the Norwegian adhering body to the IPA. Norwegian Meteorological Institute (K. Isaksen). In Au- Cryosphere scientists in Norwegian universities have gust 2004, six temperature data loggers were established initiated the organisation CRYONOR, to cooperate and on Dovrefjell in connection with a Norwegian monitor- exchange data relating to research and education on themes ing programme of palsa peatlands, co-ordinated by the ranging from permafrost and periglacial geomorphology Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (A. Hofgaard, to glaciology and Quaternary geology. CRYONOR was K. Isaksen and J.L. Sollid). presented to the IPA Council at EUCOP II in Potsdam, In Svalbard data from the Janssonhaugen PACE and has since established contacts with cryosphere scien- borehole (established in 1998) are collected in coopera- tists in other Nordic countries. CRYONOR organises an tion between the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (K. annual workshop on permafrost and other cryospheric Isaksen), University of Oslo (O. Humlum) and UNIS themes in Norway, and will be involved in the Norwegian (H.H. Christiansen). Data from a shallow 2-m deep IPA presentation together with Frost in Ground. borehole on Janssonhaugen (established in October 2003) The International Permafrost Associations Secretariat are analysed and compared with the PACE borehole data at the University Centre in Svalbard, UNIS has received from the same site (S. Hansson and K. Isaksen). funding from the Research Council of Norway, and Permafrost and periglacial activities at the University Angélique Prick is hired on part-time basis to operate the Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) focus at collecting various types Secretariat, which is led by Hanne H. Christiansen. of field data for research and education (H.H. The Geological Survey of Norway organises perma- Christiansen, O. Humlum and L. Kristensen). This basic frost and climate monitoring as part of its activities on monitoring goes on in the area around UNIS, in the val- unstable rock slopes in Norway (L.H. Blikra). In Møre leys of Longyeardalen and Adventdalen, and in the sur- and Romsdal, southern Norway, and in Troms and rounding mountains. Two mountain meteorological sta- Finnmark, northern Norway, temperature data are col- tions are operated at 260 m asl. at Janssonhaugen, and at lected in cooperation with the Norwegian Meteorological 470 m asl. at Gruvefjellet. Snow cover thickness, Institute (K. Isaksen). A series of temperature data loggers geomorphic activity and active layer temperatures are are installed to monitor ground, surface and air tempera- monitored at various sites. Active layer thaw progression tures on exposed sites with minimal snow accumulation. data have been collected for six years at the UNISCALM In Troms, the first temperature data from two 30-m deep site, where shallow borehole (10 m) permafrost tempera- boreholes were collected in September 2005 and indicated tures are also recorded. Avalanche research in the perma- the presence of permafrost. The national databases are frost environment around Longyearbyen is carried out to linked to the GTN-P database. Differential GPS meas- determine the meteorological control on snow avalanch- urements of the unstable rock slope in Troms are carried ing, and for improved geomorphologic process under- out in cooperation with the University of Oslo (T. Eiken). standing. In 2005 mini shock loggers were installed on unstable The monitoring program was extended in 2005 to the rock slopes in Troms and in Møre and Romsdal for im- Kapp Linné area, at the west coast of Spitsbergen, well-

Frozen Ground 29 known from the work of Jonas Åkerman. This is inte- tribution and slope dynamics in the permafrost zone. Four grated into a new UNIS course AG-327 «Holocene and shallow boreholes are equipped with temperature recent climatic change in the high arctic Svalbard land- dataloggers, and ground surface temperatures are meas- scape», which ran for the first time in summer 2005. By ured at approximately 40 sites in northern and eastern this, similarities and contrasts between the more conti- Iceland. Velocity, mass flux and age estimates are obtained nental setting at Longyearbyen and the maritime setting for rock glaciers in northern Iceland (B. Wangensteen). at Kapp Linné will be investigated especially with regard The University of Oslo (B. Etzelmüller) continued its to ground temperatures and permafrost. cooperation in northern Mongolia with the GEF/World H.H. Christiansen is conducting studies of ice-wedge Bank financed Hövsgöl project (C. Goulden, B. Mendee, dynamics in collaboration with Norikazu Matsuoka (Uni- N. Sharkhuu), aiming to assess the relationship between versity of Tsukuba, Japan), with additional field instru- permafrost thermal dynamics, vegetation pattern and no- mentation installed in summer 2005. A 15-m borehole in madic pastorals. This year’s field visit aimed at obtaining a rock glacier in Longyeardalen was established and DC resistivity tomograms describing permafrost and land instrumented by N. Matsuoka during summer 2005 to cover transitions in the area. In addition further ground measure ground temperature and deformation, in collabo- temperature measurements and modelling is carried out ration with O. Humlum and L. Kristensen. Collabora- in cooperation with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences tion with Charles Harris (University of Cardiff) on (N. Sharkhuu) and its Institute of Geoecology. solifluction process measurements was initiated by H. H. Christiansen, and in the late summer 2005 a new Kaare Flaate ([email protected]) and solifluction monitoring station was established in Ole Humlum ([email protected]) Adventdalen (see photograph in the UK report). Thermal conditions of the ice-cored moraines deposited by late- Holocene surges of the glacier Paulabreen are studied by POLAND L. Kristensen, by means of several boreholes. A. Prick has The project «Structure, Evolution and Dynamics of continued her research on rock temperature monitoring the Lithosphere, Cryosphere and Biosphere in the Ant- and weathering processes both on Svalbard and across arctic and the European Arctic» started at the beginning Troms, in cooperation with UNIS. of 2005 within the Committee for Scientific Research (No. In southern Norway, the research initiated in 2004 on PBZ-KBN-108/P04/2004). The project realization is mountain meteorology, snow cover and ground tempera- based on interdisciplinary research which is partly included tures were extended to a number of new research sites, in the research network connected with IPY 2007/2008 making use of automatic digital cameras and data loggers and the internationally coordinated CALM programme. (O. Humlum, H. Juliussen, University of Oslo). The One of the main research topics is the response of conti- project covers a transect from the humid west coast nental cryosphere to climate global warming. As in the (Sognefjorden - Ålesund) to the more continental regions previous years, Polish polar research focused in two re- at the Swedish border to the east (Femunden - Trysil). gions: About 80 data loggers are placed at individual sites. In • Arctic: Polish Polar Station of Institute of Geophys- addition to investigating the modern environmental con- ics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Hornsund; work- ditions also past conditions are investigated. The detailed ing year-round and with university stations active deglaciation and dynamic behaviour of the last remnants only in the summer season; of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet is studied to reconstruct the • Antarctic: Henryk Arctowski Station on King George occurrence of permafrost in the Norwegian mountains Island, South Shetlands; Department of Antarctic during the early Holocene. The ground surface thermal Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, yearly cycle. regime above and below the natural tree limit is being Arctic research is carried out mostly in earth sciences studied to obtain information on the influence of past while biological sciences are predominant in Antarctic and future tree line changes on permafrost distribution. activities. In northern Norway, extensive ground surface tem- In the summer of 2005, research on permafrost was perature measurements and DC resistivity soundings were carried out in the following Svalbard regions: at the Polish carried out in the Lakselv region, Finnmark (H. Farbrot, Polar Station in Hornsund (K. Migala, J. Klementowski); B. Etzelmüller, University of Oslo), as part of a larger sur- at Calypsostranda in Recherchefjorden (northwest of vey of permafrost distribution in Finnmark in collabora- Wedel Jarlsberg Land), in Calypsobyen, the base of Maria tion with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (K. Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin (K. Pekala, J. Isaksen). Repelewska-Pekalowa); on the Kaffioyra plain (Oscar II In Iceland, the University of Oslo (B. Etzelmüller, H. Land), at the station of Nicholas Copernicus University Farbrot, T. Eiken) works in collaboration with A. in Torun (M. Grzes); in the Billefjorden region Gudmundsson (Jardfrædistofan EHF, Iceland) and the (Petuniabukta), in the research area of Adam Mickiewicz University of Iceland (H. Björnsson) on permafrost dis- University in Poznan (A. Kostrzewski, G. Rachlewicz).

30 Frozen Ground Logistic problems were solved through a scientific coop- heave protection of the foundation» (application No. eration with the Gdynia Maritime University (A.A. Marsz, 20022127435 with priority of 14.02.2002); L.N. A. Styszynska) whose research ship «Horyzont II» was used Khrustalev, E.D. Yershov, S. Yu. Parmuzin, No. 2242813 for transport between Gdynia and Spitsbergen and for «Ferroconcrete store of radioactive waste». research on the waters around Svalbard. Glaciological in- The group lead by N. Romanovskii conducted in col- vestigations mainly on glacier mass balance in Spitsbergen laboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and started in the early spring and were partly continued in Marine Research (Germany) the mathematical modelling the summer (J. Jania, Silesia University). of permafrost evolution of the rift system on the Laptev In 2005, two conferences allowed direct contacts be- Sea shelf for the last 400 000 years. This region is charac- tween researchers, prompt publication of the latest results terized by a highly predictable presence of oil and gas. and an improved information flow. Polish and foreign Modelling showed that traps for gases and their hydrates polar researchers met September 2005 in Kielce, at the could form beneath the permafrost base. XXXI International Polar Symposium organized by the The geologic-structural map of Mars was prepared at Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, the Polar Club of a scale 1:50,000,000. It was estimated that permafrost the Polish Geographical Society and the Committee on thickness on Mars is of the same order as on the Earth (E. Polar Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. A ple- Ershov and I. Komarov). nary session allowed the presentation of interdisciplinary E. Chuvilin developed experimental research methods results on periglacial geoecosystems in the Arctic and the and has obtained new data on the kinetics of disintegra- Antarctic. The conference of the Polish Geomorphologists tion of a porous methane hydrate in sandy ground under Association was held in Krakow September 19-22, 2005; thermal effect. New experimental data were obtained for periglacial research was one of the conference topics. the thermal properties and strength of oil-polluted frozen Polish researchers took part to the EUCOP II Confer- soils depending on pollution type, temperature, moisture, ence in Potsdam. They presented seven papers. The top- etc. (R. Motenko, L. Roman and Yu. Zykov). On the ba- ics include: rock glaciers, permafrost distribution and its sis of experimental studies, L. Roman, L. Shevchenko and thermal conditions in High Tatra Mountains, pingos on S. Volokhov developed existing concepts of long-term Spitsbergen, geophysical evidence of permafrost occurrence strength and bearing capacity of salt-rich frozen soils. They in Northeast Poland as well as measurements of electrical defined the regularities of ice segregation with respect to resistivity of contemporary glacial and fluvioglacial de- shear in a frozen clay-rich soil. posits on Spitsbergen. The team of the Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology, Moscow State University, detected the cryo- Kazimierz Pekala ([email protected]) genic traces in the late Pleistocene loess deposits on the territories of the central Russian Plain and Middle Ger- many. In the Altai Mountains, it has been shown that RUSSIA cryogenesis plays an important part in determining the In 2005, Russian research covered all important top- composition of soils and loose deposits; its intensity is ics of modern-day permafrost science and engineering. well correlated with altitudinal zones (V. Konishchev, V. At the Department of Geocryology, Moscow State Rogov). Massive ice bodies were investigated in the Norilsk University, a genetic interpretation was found for the thick region. It is proposed that ground ice could have formed deposit series of coastal lowlands in Northeast Russia that because of the interaction of marine and coastal ground include ice-rich complex formed from the Eopleistocene waters. Ecological and geotechnical hazards in permafrost up to the Holocene (V. Zaitsev and L. Maximova). For area were divided in 12-main types in the context of cli- the Bolshezemelskaya tundra in the European part of mate warming (V. Grebenets). Russia, it was established that the increasing trend of the Photographs obtained by American Mars exploration mean air annual temperature does not exceed 0.01° C/ rovers were analyzed at the Department of Cryolithology year. A scheme showing various zones in this territory has and Glaciology, MSU. It was concluded that cryogenic been worked out at a scale 1:500,000 with a particular weathering processes are widely developed on Mars (V. emphasis on hazards resulting from cryogenic processes Rogov). (L. Garagulia). Geocryological map series was prepared and included Under the direction of L. Khrustalev, permafrost dy- in the atlas of Yamalo-Nenetsky okrug (N. Toumel). namics was forecasted for some regions. With reference to The Jancouat and Garabashy glaciers (Central Cauca- the cities of Yakutsk and Salekhard, it appears that the life sus) have shown a positive balance during the past years. time of buildings foundations is reduced by 30-40 years At the same time, all glacier fronts on the southern slopes in Yakutsk and 90-100 years in Salekhard due to climate have retreated. The established forecast for the next 10- warming. 20 years indicates that new disasters in the Kolka glacier The following patents on inventions have been ob- circus are unlikely to happen; a full degradation of the ice tained: V.G. Cheverev et al., No. 2227194 «The frost body will take more than 10 years (D. Petrakov).

Frozen Ground 31 Participants in the International Conference on «Priorities in Earth Cryosphere Research», Pushchino. Photograph by Hikolay Safronov.

The Permafrost Institute (Siberian Branch of the Rus- strophic cryogenic processes affecting slopes was deter- sian Academy of Sciences, SB RAS) determined that grain- mined. Climatic and statistic models of cryogenic slump size distributions correspond strongly to ground lithogen- were developed and show that this process cannot be re- esis types. A new granulometric classification of frozen peated more frequently than every 300 years (M. soils is proposed that allows predicting their physico-me- Leibman). chanical properties (I. Gourianov). The maps of contemporary exogenic processes in the Conditions of construction operations were analyzed Russian Arctic were compiled (G. Gravis, L. Konchenko). for the massifs created in Yakutsk with a hydraulic fill The modelled maps were compiled for economically im- method. Frozen ground conservation beneath the struc- portant regions in the north of Western Siberia; they dis- tures prevents the interconnection between ground water play the current state of the permafrost and its changes of relict taliks and the Lena River channel. This worsens due to natural and human impact (D. Drozdov, E. the drainage and enhances formation of cryopegs (N. Melnikov). Anisimova). Research shows that contemporary climate A thermodynamic capillary model of hydrate forma- warming in Yakutia is within the limits of possible natu- tion in porous media was developed and verified experi- ral changes. The anthropogenic signal is not revealed mentally. It describes the influence of the main factors against this background (V. Balobaev, N. Shender, Yu. upon pressure and temperature conditions on hydrate for- Skachkov). mation, including equilibrium temperature depression (A. Unique data on relic permafrost of the Laptev Sea shelf- Nesterov). coastal zone was obtained and allows for the development Palaeo-reconstructions were performed for the Rus- of a new model of subsea permafrost evolution. The Arc- sian Arctic in accordance with different levels of the Arc- tic sea coastal dynamics were studied in collaboration with tic Basin. In Northwestern Siberia, some new features in the Institute of the Earth Cryosphere (SB RAS). A math- the deposits cryogenic structure reflect the regional per- ematical model was proposed for the rapid response of mafrost history (E. Slagoda, A. Kourchatova). coastal permafrost to natural impacts of «moderate» scale The Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Prob- (M. Grigoriev, V. Kounitsky, S. Razumov). lems in Soil Science demonstrated that methane distribu- The Institute of Earth Cryosphere (SB RAS) devel- tion in the Kolyma lowland deposits indicates an absence oped a GIS approach for geocryological data at global, of diffusion from the moment of ground transfer into the local and elementary levels. frozen state. Therefore, methane distribution reflecting the Long-term measurements at the Nadym polygon situation at the start of the freezing process can be used (Western Siberia) showed that ground temperatures rose, for palaeo-reconstructions. The role of present-day and with a maximum in the late 1990’s. This occurred in the fossil microorganisms on greenhouse gases production was context of a positive trend of air temperature (N. clarified. During the recession of the Arctic Ocean, the Moskalenko). A collection of small-scale electronic maps gases emission was comparable with those in present-day displaying the contemporary changes in air temperature permafrost landscapes (E. Rivkina, D. Gilichinsky). has been published (A. Pavlov, G. Malkova). The Institute of Environmental Geosciences (RAS), The retreat rate of the Kara Sea coastline was meas- in collaboration with the Permafrost Institute and the In- ured, including those sites with massive ice; the volume stitute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Geocryology of material entering the sea has been calculated (A. Vasiliev, (both of SB RAS), started to restore the permafrost sta- M. Leibman, A. Kiziakov). The cyclic nature of cata- tion in northern Zabaikalie (D. Sergeev, M. Gelezhiak,

32 Frozen Ground 60th Anniversary of the Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology, Moscow State University

V.N. Konishchev, N.V. Tumel, V.V. Rogov, and N.A. Volodicheva Moscow State University, Department of Geography, 119992, Moscow, GSP-2, Leninskie Gory, Russia

The year 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology of the Moscow State University. The Department of the Northern Countries Geography was established in the College of Geography of the Moscow State University under the initiative of the Major Administration of the Northern Sea Route. The outstanding Russian oceanographer and geographer V.G. Bogorov became the first Head of the new department. Gradually the scope of scientific research expanded and in 1955 the name of the Department was changed to the Department of the Polar Countries. In 1956, K.K. Markov, the Dean of the College of Geography, invited the well-known permafrost specialist A.I. Popov to join the faculty. A.I. Popov suggested that the Department train specialists in permafrost science and in cryolithology. The important stage in the history of the Department was associated with the alliance of the two scientific branches – Permafrost and Glaciology – within one department. The Glaciological direction was headed by G.K. Tushinskiy who created the school of the glaciologists at Moscow State University. The great theoretical, methodical, and organizing work of Popov and Tushinskiy resulted in transformation of the Department of the Polar Countries to the Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology (1967). The Department is presently headed by its alumnus V.N. Konishchev. The development of the Department and of the scientific school of Cryolithology and Glaciology was based on the integration of scientific and training undertakings of faculty, students, researchers, and PhD students. The great role in training of students and the development of scientific research involved field studies with faculty and students working together. Permafrost field investigations covered many areas of Russia: Kola Peninsula, Arkhangelsk region, Bolshezemelskaya and Malozemelskaya tundras, Western Siberia (the area of the oil and gas field developments and the pipelines routes), Novosibirskie Islands, Yano-Indigirskaya and Kolymskaya Lowlands, Central Yakutia and the Baikal region. Monitoring and study of glaciation of the Elbrus area are continuing, as are the studies of avalanche hazards in the mountains of Western Caucasus, Elbrus area, Khibiny Mountains, and along the route of the Baikal-Amur trunk line. One of the major achievements of the Department was the development of scientific-training stations for the stu- dents’ practice and long-term research in the regions of the Caucasus Mountains (Glaciological studies) and the lower course of Yenisey River (Cryolithological studies). The G.K. Tushinskiy Elbrus Scientific-Training Station for Glaciology is situated in the Azau River valley (Central Caucasus). This Station, established in 1969 by Tushinskiy, is at the present a large scientific and training centre. The Ust-Port Scientific-Training Station for Cryolithological, established in 1972 by Popov, is situated in the lower course of Yenisey River, 100 km from Dudinka city. Recently the area of practice has enlarged sufficiently, and now it includes the Norilsk industrial area. More than 30 years ago, the Department started the development of scientific problems of Cryosphere, connected with the ground ice origin, the formation of structure and composition of frozen sediments, the features of seasonal freezing and thawing, and the interaction of permafrost and glaciations. Other scientific directions at that time were connected with mountain glaciations based on the glaciers of Caucasus and other regions; the development of the principles of engineering glaciology and avalanche study; the experimental work on the physical and mechanical prop- erties of snow and ice; and research concerning the environmental problems of Northern regions and mountainous areas. The results of cryolithological researches were published in numerous papers and monographs. Faculty and staff of the Department developed a set of Permafrost and Cryolithological maps at various scale, including the unique Cryolithological maps of USSR and Northern America. For the last 60 years, more than 500 specialists have graduated from the Department, and several dozens of PhDs and ten DSc were trained. The main directions of the scientific researches of the Department are: Study of the earth cryosphere evolution during the all its history; Development of the palaeo-cryogenic reconstructions; Evolution of the mountain glaciations; Study of the snow cover and avalanche dy- namics considering the influence of changing climate; and Geoecology of the cryosphere and forecast of hazardous situations in the cryolithozone and mountainous areas. At present, the Department of Cryolithology and Glaciology is a consolidated group of scientists, teachers and students, well-known all over the world for its scientific and training achievements.

Frozen Ground 33 D. Shesternev). In the mountains of this region, ground Groundwater reserves were estimated at water supply temperature rose 1.1° C at a depth of 19 m during the last points for the Chukotka region. 18 years. Modelling shows that, if the air temperature rises The Komi State Monitoring Centre continued moni- by 1° C (while solar radiation, snow thickness and other toring the zones of discontinuous and also relict factors do not vary), the ground surface would only (Pleistocene) permafrost in the Komi Republic. The most become 0.3-0.4° C warmer (G. Perlshtein, A. Pavlov, important works were carried out at the Vorkuta perma- A. Bouiskih). frost station where the polygon has an area 2600 square S. Alekseev from the Institute of the Earth Crust (SB km. Observations on the climate dynamics and perma- RAS) proposed a new concept of cryo-hydrological sys- frost parameters, groundwaters and cryogenic processes tem consisting of interconnected aquifers (aquifuges or have been conducted there since 1963. drained deposits) which are deeply modified in response At the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems (RAS), a to cryogenic processes. A classification of such systems method for estimating and forecasting the anthropogenic was made. component of environmental dynamics was developed A joint group from Moscow State University and the based on remote sensing data. The consequences of pyro- Institutes of the Earth Crust and Earth Cryosphere (SB genic impact were estimated to be the most significant RAS) conducted a complex research programme on the factor determining the changes in cryogenic landscapes. «Frozen Yar» (steep bank) exposure in the western part of Data from Landsat 4 and 7 satellites show that at the lat- the Tojin depression (Tuva). The history of the est successional stages (more than 10 years) the radiation syncryogenic deposits was reconstructed and the forma- temperature of the disturbed sites surface is 1.2-1.6° C tion of many-tier syngenetic ice wedges was explained (S. lower than within the undisturbed areas. Therefore, a cover Alekseev, L. Alekseeva, S. Arjannikov, Yu. Vaslchuk). type and its properties as heat insulation can be deter- At the Institute of Geography (SB RAS), a genetic clas- mined from the spectrozonal photography in visual and sification of dangerous hydrological and glacial phenom- thermal wavelengths (S. Kornienko). ena was developed based upon the physiographic analysis The Research and Production Enterprise of heat and moisture redistribution in both the Earth «TRANSIGEM» (V.G. Kondratiev) developed some new hydrosphere and cryosphere (V. Alekseev and L. Koritny). technical decisions and recommendations concerning road Alekseev prepared a map for the regions of Russia and building on permafrost terrain. contiguous countries that are prone to icings. PNIIIS compiled engineering and geocryological large- At the North-Eastern Interdisciplinary Institute (Far scale maps for high-priority objects with difficult perma- Eastern Branch RAS), the connection between wind dust- frost conditions in the north of Western Siberia and in ing and heat exchange features on the surface of tailings the Northeast European Russia. Moreover, a series of spe- area was explored. For undisturbed watercourses, the ten- cific electronic maps was prepared for the long pipelines dency of decreasing total runoff was detected against a in Central Siberia and Zabaikalie. The dynamics of the background of climate warming (V. Glotov, L. Glotova). local geocryological conditions were forecasted according The observations at the two field stations were con- to the development of the European North oil-and-gas ducted within the CALM program by the Chukotski Di- fields. vision (North-Eastern Interdisciplinary Institute).

Participants in the Third Conference of Russian Geocryologists, Moscow. Photograph by Alexander Lobus.

34 Frozen Ground The Laboratory of Geocryology and Hydrates of the summer months vegetation mapping within the VNIIGas Ltd. investigated the shows of gas and hydrates CALM grid was completed. Implications of already ob- in permafrost deposits for the oil and gas fields of West- served changes for methane emissions at the landscape ern Siberia. This research has been supported by the scale were published in 2004. INTAS (grant No. 03-51-4259 «Experimental studies of Margaretha Johansson has filled the new PhD composition, structure and features of gas-hydrate forma- studentship post on «Permafrost dynamics and its impli- tion in deposits»). cations for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning» (su- The International Conference on «Priorities in Earth pervisors: Torben R. Christensen, Jonas Åkerman). Instal- Cryosphere Research» took place in Pushchino, May 24- lations of snow cover manipulation plots, snow cover 27, 2005. It is interesting to note that besides traditional depth, soil temperature measurements and a complete geocryological sessions, the medico-social and planetary microclimatic station were initiated next to one of the old questions were considered there. Immediately following CALM grids (AL 1- Storflaket). the 3rd Conference of Russian Geocryologists was held at Research at Uppsala University continues in the field Moscow State University as a part of its 250th anniversary of periglacial processes (Else Kolstrup, Jan Boelhouwers, celebrations. More than 500 permafrost scientists and Hanna Ridefelt). E. Kolstrup continues the research on engineers from Russia and other countries participated in boundary constraints of geomorphological forms and proc- interesting discussions about the current permafrost is- esses in past and present periglacial environments. Spatial sues. This Conference summarised Russian permafrost variability in solifluction process rates and environmental parameters in the Abisko mountains of northern Sweden activity for the last four years and outlined the main goals is the topic of H. Ridefelt’s Ph.D. J. Boelhouwers contin- for further investigations. Russian researchers also attended ues his work on soil frost processes and spatial variability the First CliC International Science Conference (Beijing, on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, including a pilot study April 2005) and the EUCOP II Conference (Potsdam, on interactions with vegetation in collaboration with ecolo- June 2005). gists from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. A coastal- The defences of theses for a Doctor’s degree by M. inland transect of active layer temperature monitoring sites Leibman, V. Mikhailov, A. Popov, F. Rivkin and E. Slagoda and sediment movement rates was established in Western were important events for the Russian permafrost com- Dronning Maud land between the Swedish Wasa and Svea munity this year. The following monographs were pub- stations. lished: Khrustalev, L.N. Fundamentals of permafrost At Stockholm University (Britta Sannel and Peter geotechnics (Manual). M.: Edited at MSU ; Alekseev, Kuhry) installed monitoring equipment in a peat plateau- V.R. Landscape indication of the icing phenomena. thermokarst lake complex in Taavavuoma, northern Swe- Novosibirsk, Nauka. den (68°27’ N, 20°58’ E) in September 2005, as a part of Georgy Z. Perlshstein ([email protected]) the Ph.D. project of B. Sannel. The monitoring equip- ment consists of a meteorological station measuring air temperature, relative humidity and precipitation and three SWEDEN cables with thermistors measuring ground temperature down to depths of two meters in different parts of the Several activities took place in 2005 at the peatland. A stationary digital camera taking one image a GeoBiosphere Science Centre of the Lund University and day at 1 PM was installed overlooking four stakes for snow in the Abisko area. The CALM-grids along the east-west depth measurements. This monitoring station will be test transverse from Bergfors to Riksgransen were monitored run during the winter 2005/2006. The plan for summer as usual (Jonas Åkerman, Margaretha Johansson). The 2006 is to further expand monitoring with a wind speed record series now covers the period 1978-2005. In two of and direction sensor, additional thermistor cables, addi- the monitored bogs, permafrost is now more or less com- tional snow depth stakes and possibly tilt metres along pletely gone and the dry heath vegetation has turned into the part of the peat plateau that is collapsing into a a wet Sphagnum and Carex dominated swamp. Torbjörn thermokarst lake. The main objective of the project is to Johansson continues the newly established grid at study local climate, permafrost and ground dynamics in a Stordalen and here the mire was intensively surveyed us- peat plateau-thermokarst lake complex to obtain a better ing real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS-technique with an understanding of how these permafrost peatlands respond high accuracy. A total of approximately 10,000 points were to climate change. surveyed during a two-week period over the whole mire Swedish permafrost researchers met in May 2005 with (ca. 16 ha) with an intensified survey within the CALM the aim to develop a Swedish permafrost group. Swedish grid. With these measurements we have now created op- permafrost researchers and all those with permafrost-re- portunities to follow permafrost degradation and changes lated research in Sweden are invited to join this group and in thermokarst features on the site at a centimetre scale provide project information. For further information, see: (point). The general resolution is approximately 10 me- www.eld.geo.uu.se/SPG/ ters. The micro-topography data is used in a carbon flux perspective to quantify «hot spots» on the mire. During Jonas Åkerman ([email protected])

Frozen Ground 35 SWITZERLAND 16 other boreholes located in rock glaciers, scree slopes and under structures such as cable car stations or avalanche PERMOS, the «Permafrost Monitoring Switzerland» defence structures constitutes already a nine-year data set (www.permos.ch) reached its last year within the pilot (temperature and deformation) for several of these phase. There are indications that PERMOS will be estab- boreholes, which partly contributes to PERMOS (M. lished within the federal environment monitoring system. Phillips). The SLF models SNOWPACK and ALPINE- The Swiss Academy of Sciences (SAS), the Federal Office 3D are currently being adapted to simulate permafrost for Water and Geology (FOWG) as well as by the Swiss distribution and evolution in complex alpine terrain (M. Agency for Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL) Lehning and I. Völksch). are the official partners, which are crucial and supportive The Institutes of Geography at the University of for this «docking». MeteoSwitzerland, the federal office Lausanne (Christophe Lambiel, Emmanuel Reynard) and for meteorology, will become a new PERMOS partner, Fribourg (Reynald Delaloye) carried on their close col- with which the link to GCOS/GTOS will be strength- laboration in alpine permafrost research in the western ened in the future. PERMOS has been and will be further Swiss Alps. The focus is on two main aspects: operated by the eight Swiss university institutes involved (1) Survey of surface movement of alpine permafrost in permafrost research. features (active and inactive rock glaciers, frozen deposits Initiated by the FOWG, a task force composed on in Little Ice Age glacier forefields, talus slopes) by differ- SMEs (Academia Engadina, Getest and Geo7) and a sci- ential GPS (E. Perruchoud) and photogrammetry (G. entific advisory panel published maps (1:50,000) of the Fasel). After a general acceleration between 2000 and 2004, entire Swiss Alps where permafrost distribution and po- a significant decrease in surface velocities occurred in 2004 tential zones of natural hazards are plotted. and 2005. The satellite based InSAR measurements con- At the University of Zurich, the permafrost distribu- firm field observations and showed a kind of «surging rock tion modelling for the North-Ossetian Caucasus initiated glaciers» (velocities of about 5 m a-1). within the project, «High-Mountain Hazards Prevention, (2) Thermal regime and the occurrence of permafrost North Ossetia» (Swiss Agency for Development and Co- in talus slopes at low elevation (J. Dorthe, S. Morard) and operation) was finalized. A first-order assessment of the in the belt of discontinuous alpine permafrost (K. Pieraci). permafrost distribution implies a lower limit of possible In order to investigate the influence of air circulation on permafrost at a mean altitude of 2600 m asl and of prob- the thermal regime of such talus slopes, drilling and in- able permafrost at 2980 m asl. The lower limit of perma- strumentation of two shallow boreholes (5 and 15 m) were frost distribution is strongly dependent on aspect and was carried out in November 2004 at Combe de Dreveneuse affirmed in selected locations by the occurrence of active (1550 m asl, Valais Prealps). First results indicate the pre- rock glaciers (R. Frauenfelder, S. Zgraggen-Oswald, C. dominance of a non-conductive thermal regime driven Huggel, A. Kääb, W. Haeberli). The new information pri- by the complex ventilation system affecting the debris marily concerns debris-covered areas. In the near future, accumulation. temperature loggers installed in several rock free faces in A. Kääb published in 2005 the book «Remote Sensing the area will allow acquisition and more analyses of the of Mountain Glaciers and Permafrost Creep» in the Physi- temperature distribution in steep rock walls (S. Gruber, cal Geography Series, University of Zurich (vol. 48, 266 R. Frauenfelder, S. Zgraggen-Oswald, C. Huggel, A. Kääb, p., ISBN 3 85543 244 9) (See: http://folk.uio.no/kaeaeb/ W. Haeberli). publications). The PhD thesis of Regula Frauenfelder A new project was initiated, focussing on the investi- «Regional-scale modelling of the occurrence and dynam- gation of glacier-permafrost interactions and associated ics of rockglaciers and the distribution of features in a transect spanning from the high Arctic on palaeopermafrost» was published in the same series (vol. Svalbard over the subarctic area of Northern Norway into 45, 70 p., ISBN 3 85543 241 4) (For ordering or PDF the boreal mountain regions of Southern Norway (R. download: [email protected]). Frauenfelder, funding by the Swiss National Foundation). Dani Vonder Mühll The Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche ([email protected]) Research (SLF) in Davos continued to investigate the ther- mal and geotechnical effects of water in the active layer of steep scree slopes. Detailed measurements are collected in UNITED KINGDOM the field while numerous shear-box tests are carried out in The British periglacial and permafrost community is the laboratory (A. Rist). Three instrumented boreholes in the process of formally developing as an association (two vertical and one horizontal) are currently being added affiliated to the IPA, the British Periglacial and Perma- to the SLF network. These are particularly interesting as frost Association (BPPA). Its inaugural meeting was they are located in narrow rock ridges and will be used in planned for December 14, 2005 at Cardiff University, the context of a new project on the mechanical behaviour organised by Charles Harris and Julian Murton. of rock walls containing ice. Continuing monitoring of Full-scale modelling of gelifluction processes has been

36 Frozen Ground initiated by Charles Harris, Julian Murton and Michael downslope displacement, volumetric moisture content and Davies in collaboration with Marianne Fonte and Gérard pore pressures. Guillemet in the cold laboratories of Laboratoire The bedrock ice-segregation experiments, funded by Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière, UMR CNRS NERC and led by Julian Murton (Sussex University), fin- 6143 / Université de Caen, France. Two full-scale slope ished in the Caen cold rooms and preliminary results were models have been constructed, 4 m in total length, 1.5 m presented at the Second European Permafrost Conference in width, and constructed in identical Caen silt. Models in June 2005. The results are currently being analysed for are subject to identical air temperature freezing and thaw- publication in collaboration with Rorik Peterson (Uni- ing cycles, but a freezing plate is installed in the base of versity of Alaska, Fairbanks). one slope, maintaining a permafrost surface beneath a 30- Julian Murton ([email protected]) cm thick active layer, while the second model has a basal drainage layer and is allowed to thaw completely between freezing cycles. The research will compare solifluction proc- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA esses associated with one-sided, active-layer freezing (non- The Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union permafrost) and two-sided freezing (permafrost) by meas- was held in San Francisco, California, December 5-9, uring soil and air thermal conditions, frost heave and set- 2005. More than 50 oral reports and posters were pre- tlement, downslope soil movement, volumetric moisture sented in two special topical sessions on permafrost, sea- content and pore pressures. Three, full freeze-thaw cycles sonally frozen ground, hydrates, hydrology, and related have so far been completed. topics. Forty-nine reports were presented in four sessions under the general heading «Permafrost and Seasonally Frozen Ground in a Changing Climate». The sessions were organized by Stephan Gruber (France), Tingjun Zhang and F.E. Nelson. A poster session consisting of eight re- ports on «Gas Hydrates and Their Relationship to Geohazard and Global Climate Change» was organized by Scott Dallimore (Canada) and Tim Collett. The U.S. Permafrost Association (USPA) continues to develop and attract new members. Visits to the USPA website exceeded 4,000 «hits» during 2005 (www.uspermafrost.org). The USPA held its annual meet- ing and election during the AGU. Members of the 2006- 2007 Board of Directors include: President: F. E. Nelson; Past President: Vladimir Romanovsky; President Elect: Jon Zufelt; Board members David Norton, Jennifer Hardin, Michael Lilly (Treasurer), Ken Hinkel (Secretary). Field station monitoring active-layer gelifluction processes, The U. S. National Committee for the Ninth Interna- tional Conference on Permafrost met in open session prior Endalen, Svalbard, installed in August 2005. to the AGU. Planning for the NICOP was reviewed in Photograph by Charles Harris. preparation for the mailing of the first announcement in early 2006. The Local Organizing Committee is develop- A second project entitled «Modelling Pre-failure Shear ing the details of the conference programme and activi- Strain (Solifluction) in Freezing and Thawing Soil Slopes» ties. Conference plans and pre-registration information commenced in May 2005 at Cardiff University, with are posted at: www.nicop.org Charles Harris (Earth Sciences), Hywel Thomas and Pe- A special session on the International Polar Year was ter Cleall (Engineering) as principal scientists, and Martina organized by Jerry Brown and Fritz Nelson for the An- Luetschg (Earth Sciences) and Katherine Butterfield (En- nual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers gineering) as Post-Doctoral Fellows. The programme will (AAG) to be held in Chicago in March 2006. The IPY develop numerical modelling of periglacial solifluction, sessions are sponsored by the AAG’s Cryosphere, calibrated and validated against scaled physical modelling Geomorphology, and Climate Specialty Groups. At its in the geotechnical centrifuge and field monitoring. As annual meeting in April 2005 in Denver, Colorado, more part of this programme a new field station was installed in than 50 cryosphere-related reports and posters were pre- Endalen, Svalbard, in collaboration with Hanne H. sented. Several awards were presented for the best poster Christiansen of UNIS and Fraser Smith of Dundee Uni- presentation by young investigators. versity. The station will monitor permafrost solifluction Jon Zufelt provided the following report on recent and process variables and replicate the Caen full-scale labora- continuing activities of the American Society of Civil tory modelling experiment, measuring air and ground Engineers (ASCE) and its Technical Council on Cold thermal conditions, surface frost heave and settlement, Regions (TCCRE) during the year:

Frozen Ground 37 • Completed the TCCRE publication titled «River Ice several tenths of a degree C of the melting point of ice. A Monograph». new near-surface, permafrost observatory was established • Organized and sponsored «Cold Regions Sympo- at Isachsen (Ellef Ringnes Island, Canada) as a part of sium» with six sessions at the ASCE World Water Walker’s Biocomplexity project. This installation com- and Environmental Resources Congress held in An- pleted the Canadian Arctic transect of permafrost observa- chorage, AK, May 16-19, 2005, and presented two tories (Banks Island, Mould Bay and Isachsen) and ex- awards: the Can-AM Civil Engineering Amity Award tended our Alaskan transect into the High Arctic. A new to Jon Zufelt of CRREL, Anchorage, and the Harold observatory is under development at the southern end of R. Peyton Award to Norbert Morgenstern, Univer- the transect at Gakona, Alaska. sity of Alberta, Edmonton. Tom Osterkamp reports that after monitoring active • TCCRE EXCOM met in San Francisco at the AGU, layer and permafrost conditions at permafrost observato- ries along a north-south transect of Alaska for the last participated in the meeting of the USNC for NICOP twenty five years, this project will now be continued by and is assisting in planning the conference. th Vladimir Romanovsky. This database through 2004 is • 100 abstracts were received for the 13 International available on-line through NSIDC: http://nsidc.org/data/ Conference on Cold Regions Engineering at Orono, arcss034.html and http://nsidc.org/data/arcss106.html Maine, July 23-26. Ken Hinkel and Wendy Eisner (University of • Co-sponsoring with RIL and the Finnish Society of Cincinnati) provided reports on several projects. Hinkel, Civil Engineers, the International Society for Cold Richard Beck and three graduate students were at Barrow Region Development (ISCORD) Conference in in April to determine the elevation of the snow drift along Tampere, Finland, September 25-27, 2007. the Cakeater Road snowfence using DGPS towed behind • Initiated planning for the 14th International Con- a snowmachine. Snow thickness was estimated by com- ference on Cold Regions Engineering in Duluth, paring these transect measurements to the high resolu- MN in 2009. tion IFSAR DEM. Soil warming and summer ponding • Continued to review manuscripts and published the has resulted in ground subsidence of about 10 cm in the quarterly Journal of Cold Regions Engineering and past five years; the effect is maximized beneath the crest the preparation of new Cold Regions Monographs of the snow drift. In August, the team completed the Bar- on Field Properties and Site Investigations in Frozen row Urban Heat Island study. Over four winters, the vil- Ground, Hydraulics and Hydrology, Water Treat- lage core averaged about 3° C warmer than the tundra; on ment in Cold Regions, Specialty Foundations in some days it was 9° C warmer. In summer, the village Cold Regions, and Ports and Harbors in Cold Re- tends to be a bit cooler owing to the maritime effect along gions. the coast. Wendy Eisner, Hinkel, and Chris Cuomo are Bucky Tart is the incoming chairman of the TCCRE involved in an interdisciplinary project studying landscape Executive Committee (EXCOM). David Prusak rotates processes on the North Slope of Alaska. Native people of off the EXCOM and John Woodworth, a structural engi- the North Slope have first hand knowledge of these Arctic neer from Duluth, MN has been elected to the EXCOM. changes. UC graduate students John Hurd and Benjamin Vladimir Romanovsky, Geophysical Institute and In- Jones, joined the team in Barrow and Atqasuk in August. ternational Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fifteen Inupiaq Elders were interviewed and many have Fairbanks and the permafrost research group (Kenji indicated that landscape changes are occurring at a rapid Yoshikawa, Sergei Marchenko, Dmitri Nicolsky, Ronald rate. They have identified lakes that have drained, areas Daanen, and Valeri Groshev) continued their efforts to where permafrost thaw has been extreme, and places where record active layer and permafrost dynamics at our more the sea and river bluffs are eroding. The team has been than 60 sites within Alaska. All sites were visited in June - able to verify many of these observations through the use September along the northern portion of Alaska and some of aerial photography, satellite imagery, and radiocarbon sites within the southern portion of the Alaskan transect dating. Ben Jones is now working at the U.G. Geological to collect air and ground temperatures and soil moisture Survey in Anchorage. data from the data loggers. Active-layer depths and other Frederick Nelson (University of Delaware) reported environmental characteristics were also collected. Perma- that with the appointment of Hugh French as an affiliate frost temperatures in all deeper boreholes (60 to 80 me- of the University of Delaware’s Center for Climatic Re- ters) were measured within the northern portion of the search, the UD Permafrost Group (UDPG) now consists transect. Generally, active layer thickness was less this year of 13 students, affiliates, and faculty. With masters stu- compared to the last year, but it is still greater than aver- dent Mark Demitroff, H. French is examining the land- age for the last 15 years. Temperatures in permafrost con- scapes of southern New Jersey and the Delmarva Penin- tinue to increase in northern Alaska, but with lower rate sula for traces of Pleistocene permafrost and periglacial compared to the 1990s. In Interior Alaska permafrost tem- features. The Appalachian Mountains and Mid-Atlantic peratures are approaching the highest level that was re- coastal plain are becoming a focus for much of UDPG’s corded during the mid-1990s. At many locations mean work: Mike Walegur is analyzing the lengthy records from annual temperatures at the permafrost table are within his network of air- and ground-temperature stations in

38 Frozen Ground the Appalachian Highlands. Andrea Wedo is completing The 2005 field season started at Barrow and ended on her study of the Hickory Run Boulder Field in Pennsyl- the Colville River Delta, with 24 sites along the Beaufort vania, and Kim Gregg’s masters thesis on blockfield dis- Sea coast studied and sampled. The sites included coastal tribution in the Appalachians is being readied for publi- marshes/tidal flats, and bluffs with elevation up to four cation. Other news includes the arrival of Meixue Yang, a meter. Community-based monitoring sites were estab- cold-regions specialist from Lanzhou China, who will be lished with schools at Barrow, Nuiqsut and Kaktovik. This a visiting Research Associate for the next two years. year’s international team consisted in addition to Ping and Anarmaa Sharkhuu from the Mongolian Academy of Sci- Jorgenson of Fugen Dou (post-doc, UAF), Sabine Fiedler, ences spent several weeks in residence with UDPG dur- (Soil Scientist, University of Hohenheim, Germany), ing the fall semester of 2005. Other new UDPG person- Mikhail Kanevskiy (UAF post-doc fellow from the Rus- nel include masters student Melanie Schimek and doc- sian Earth Cryosphere Institute), Prathap Kodial (gradu- toral student Dmitri (Dima) Streletskiy. Dima completed ate student, UAF), Gary Michaelson (Palmer Research his masters program in geocryology at Moscow State Uni- Center, UAF), Yuri Shur (Civil Engineering, UAF), versity in June. Anna Klene defended her doctoral disser- Vladimir Tumskoy (Moscow State University) and Jerry tation in May 2005 and is now Assistant Professor of Brown (IPA). Geography at the University of Montana in Missoula. Torre Jorgenson, Yuri Shur and Tom Osterkamp initi- Research Associate Kolia Shiklomanov spent August 2005 ated a new NSF-project on «Effects of ground ice on the assessing CALM sites in Siberia. Silvia Cruzatt installed a evolution of permafrost-dominated landscapes under a series of stations at high elevation (~5000 m) in the Peru- changing climate». The research addresses the effects of vian Andes in late 2004. Heath Sandall and Jon Little are ice aggradation and degradation on terrain evolution, and completing masters theses on their CALM-related field- the current extent and rate of thermokarst development work in northern Alaska. The 2005 CALM field crew in in Alaska. Data from the first summer of field work are Alaska consisted of Nelson, Klene, Streletskiy, Schimek, currently being examined. Sandall, and Cathy Seybold (U.S. Natural Resources Con- Through a grant from the NSF EPSCoR program, servation Service). University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) researchers are bring- Skip Walker (University of Alaska Fairbanks) reported ing permafrost studies to schools around Alaska. Kenji on the fourth expedition conducted under the NSF-funded Yoshikawa, Yuri Shur and Douglas Goering are installing project «Biocomplexity of patterned ground». The primary instrumented boreholes near schools in Nome, Fairbanks, goal of the project is to better understand the complex Noatak, Beaver, Galena, and Barrow that will permit stu- linkages between patterned ground formation, dents to participate in installing instruments, measuring biogeochemical cycles, vegetation, disturbance, and cli- temperatures and join discussions of the role of perma- mate across the full Arctic summer temperature gradient frost in Alaskan ecosystems. in order to better predict Arctic ecosystem responses to UAF researchers Kenji Yoshikawa, Douglas Kane, and changing climate. The 2005 expedition to Isachsen, Ellef Larry Hinzman are investigating groundwater dynamics Ringnes Island in the Canadian Archipelago was logisti- in the continuous permafrost regions of the North Slope cally the most difficult because of the size of the group of Alaska by examining the physical and chemical proper- (25 scientists, students, and support staff), and remote- ties of groundwater springs and aufeis fields. While some ness of Ellef Ringnes Island. Isachsen is near the extreme of the aufeis have very local sources of water, it appears cold end of the summer temperature gradient in Canada. that many springs derive their water from the south side It was the site of a joint U.S.-Canadian climate station of the Brooks Range, releasing water that is at least 2000 from 1948 to 1971 and is characterized by very low sum- years old. Daniel White and Larry Hinzman are studying mer temperatures and low biological diversity and pro- the degradation of permafrost on the Seward Peninsula of ductivity (mean July temperature 3° C). The Alaska to understand the consequent effect to hydrologi- Biocomplexity project now has 10 locations along an 1800- cal processes and communities. km North American Arctic (NAA) transect starting in the Douglas Kane and Larry Hinzman continue various northern boreal forest and passing through all five Arctic projects related to permafrost hydrology in the Kuparuk bioclimate subzones of Alaska and Canada. Participants Watershed on the North Slope of Alaska. This research came from Canada, France, Germany, Puerto Rico, Swit- program has operated continuously since 1985, maintain- zerland, and the United States and included five students ing nearly continuous hydrological and meteorological who participated in the Arctic Field Ecology course taught observations at many stations for 20 years. These data are by Bill Gould and Grizelle Gonzalez through the Univer- available via: http://www.uaf.edu/water/projects/ sity of Minnesota. NorthSlope/introduction.html Chien-Lu Ping, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Kenji Yoshikawa collected spring water and ice core Torre Jorgenson, ABR, Inc., Fairbanks, initiated their new samples from frost blisters at Sukakpak Mountain (Brooks three-year, collaborative project «Flux and transformation Range), North Folk Pass (Yukon, Canada) to compare with of organic carbon across the eroding coastline of northern previous studies. The isotopic signals of the spring water Alaska» under the NSF Study of Northern Alaska Coastal has not changed since the 1980s. Other drilling was car- Systems (SNACS) program. ried out at the Alpha pingo (near Fairbanks), Cripple Creek

Frozen Ground 39 pingo, Maclaren River palsa, Copper River Basin, and a rado State University) and Josh Schimel (the University broad base mound on the North Slope. of California, Santa Barbara). Physical, chemical, and bio- Horacio Toniolo (UAF) continues permafrost degra- logical interactions and feedbacks on carbon flux, weath- dation and sedimentation studies at Caribou Poker Creeks ering, and ecosystem dynamics are being investigated. This Research Watershed. This research watershed was estab- past summer was our most extensive field season with 28 lished in 1968 by CRREL and has been an active study participants. In addition, we held a 3-week field course site for numerous studies over the years. Half of this wa- with 12 international students, two NSF-supported teach- tershed was burned in a wildfire in 2004, and now presents ers, John Sota (U.S.) and Jane Buss Sorensen (Nuuk, opportunities to monitor the fire impacts. Numerous Greenland). The course was designed to provide students thermokarsts are now evident in CPCRW, some in re- with hands-on experience in ecology, soils, hydrology and sponse to fire, others related to a flood event, and others periglacial processes. Jennifer Horwath, a PhD student, probably forming in response to a warming climate. completed her final field season on soil organic carbon. Gary Clow and Frank Urban (U.S. Geological Survey) Three members of our group spent 10 days in the continued development of the U.S. Department of the Kangerlussuaq region to collect lake core samples that PhD Interior’s contribution to the GTN-P monitoring program. student Heather Heuser is using to analyze 18O in dia- The primary focus during 2005 was adding radio telem- toms. We continued our studies of contraction crack dy- etry capability to several of the active-layer monitoring namics and formation of ice-rich permafrost in the Dry stations in the eastern portion of the National Petroleum Valleys. A new project to investigate salt diffusion is Reserve (NPRA) in northern Alaska. This is being done planned for the coming year. For further information, see: in collaboration with Michael Lilly (GW Scientific) and http://depts.washington.edu/icylands the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The total number Edwin Clarke (Soils Alaska) reported on a geotechnical of stations in the DOI/GTN-P active layer network is now investigation of a 40 acre subdivision that occupies a patch- 15. Repairs and upgrades were made to several of the wells work of thin, discontinuous permafrost consisting of silts in the DOI/GTN-P deep borehole array in preparation and sands underlain by gravels. Recommendations were for the TSP campaign. A major effort was initiated to quan- made as to which portion of the subdivision could be de- tify the uncertainties in TSP borehole temperature meas- veloped now and which portion should be cleared to in- urements. The USGS’ polar temperature logging system crease the depth of thaw. We are designing structurally is being upgraded in response to this analysis. enhanced and adjustable foundations for use on frozen Larry Hinzman reported on «An Evolving Arctic Work- sands and gravel with excessive differential thaw strain. shop: Hydrologic Responses to Degrading Permafrost», We also participated in the design of a 12,000 square foot August 9-12, 2005, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. building with an adjustable foundation on frozen silt. The purpose of the workshop was to examine how the Jack Hebert and John Davies report that the Cold Cli- warming climate will impact the hydrological regime and mate Housing Research Center (CCHRC, University of the resulting impacts to local ecology and surface energy Alaska Fairbanks lower campus), started construction on balance through degrading permafrost. The primary fo- its new Research and Test Facility (RTF) this summer. An cus was upon the influence of permafrost warming and extensive monitoring system was installed, in partnership thawing to elucidate further influence through feedback with GW Scientific (Michael Lilly) and Campbell Scien- processes. This workshop included local field trips in the tific (Austin McHugh) to help monitor permafrost and Fairbanks area to observe and photograph evidence of active layer conditions, groundwater conditions on top of permafrost degradation. Workshop attendees observed permafrost, and thermal and unfrozen soil-moisture con- various permafrost features that characterize the interde- ditions in the subgrade portions of the basement. The pendence among the dynamic thermal and hydrological CCHRC RTF will help provide valuable information for processes. Hydrologic processes impacted by degrading building construction techniques in permafrost conditions permafrost include increased winter stream flows, de- (www.cchrc.org). creased summer peak flows, changes in stream water chem- W. Berry Lyons (Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio istry, and other fluvial geomorphological processes. Sev- State University) reported on an investigation sub-surface eral changes in local hydrology have already been witnessed seeps in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, as part of the McMurdo including drying of thermokarst ponds, the increasing Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (MCM- importance of groundwater in the local water balance, and LTER). They did a walking reconnaissance of the valley differences in the surface energy balance. As our climate and sampled seeps for their isotopic and geochemical com- continues to change, it becomes paramount to understand positions. The work was a research project of Kate Harris and predict changes in hydrological processes. A work- (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and involved shop report is in preparation. collaboration with Andrew Fountain (Portland State Uni- At the University of Washington, Ron Sletten, Bernard versity) and Anne Carey (Department of Geological Sci- Hallet and Birgit Hagedorn completed the third year of a ences, OSU). This investigation is part of the MCM- NSF study «Biocomplexity of Carbon Cycling in the High LTER’s long-term research dealing with the overall hy- Arctic» at the Thule Air Base, Greenland. The multi-in- drologic cycle in Taylor Valley. stitutional project includes Jeff Welker and Paddy Sullivan Nicole Mölders (University of Alaska Fairbanks), with (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Heidi Seltzer (Colo- colleague Narapusetty evaluated the hydro-thermody-

40 Frozen Ground namic soil-vegetation model that is used in various com- relationship to the glacial landforms and palaeo- munity-climate and weather forecast models by means of environmental significance. In the Limestone Massif of data from the BALTEX data bank, the ATLAS project, Estremadura the group is studying relict stratified slope and the IARC permafrost observatory, as well as, by use deposits. The University of Coimbra group is studying of a theoretically advanced numerical scheme. Currently the Serra do Caramulo area with a focus on relict periglacial the soil model is being implemented into CCSM 3.0. slope deposits. Patrick Webber became Professor Emeritus of Plant During the past year the investigations of Antarctic Biology at Michigan State University, and will complete permafrost by the University of Lisbon group have devel- his tenure as President of IASC (International Arctic Sci- oped further. A collaborative project with the Universities ence Committee) in April 2006. He remains active in sev- of Alcalá de Henares (Spain) and Zurich (Switzerland) eral projects, especially ITEX (International Tundra Ex- was funded by the Spanish Antarctic Programme. This periment, BAID (Barrow Arctic Information and Data project is within the framework of the International Polar project, CEON (CircumArctic Environmental Observa- Year projects on Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) and tories Network) and several IPY projects. Antarctic Permafrost and Soils (ANTPAS). Field work fo- Many other projects reported in Frozen Ground 28 cusing on geophysical and geomorphological survey in continued and information can be obtained directly from order to define the sites for borehole drilling is planned the investigators or from the U.S. Permafrost Association for January - February 2006. A project focusing on the web site (www.uspermafrost.org). installation of CALM-S sites in Livingston and Decep- tion Islands is under preparation. Larry Hinzman ([email protected]) and A proposal for a national committee for the Interna- Lynn Everett ([email protected]) tional Polar Year is under evaluation and permafrost is planned to be a major theme in the Portuguese IPY. Results of Portuguese research on periglacial environ- ASSOCIATE MEMBER : PORTUGAL ments have been presented in several international meet- Research on periglacial processes and landforms in the ings in 2005, namely in the EGU conference in Vienna, Serra da Estrela is being carried out by the University of EUCOP II in Potsdam and IAG conference in Zaragoza. Lisbon group. Current focus is on the study of the 2005 was a especially significant year with Portugal Pleistocene permafrost and periglacial landforms, their being accepted as Associate Member of the IPA. Gonçalo Vieira ([email protected])

Frozen Ground 41 edaphic gradients in high-latitude OTHER NEWS and high-altitude regions charac- terized by the presence of isolated to continuous permafrost. A first ROMANIA step is to update the existing The research program entitled «Geographical risk phe- Northern Circumarctic Soil Car- nomena in the alpine belt of the Southern Carpathians. bon Database (NCSCD) with additional data, including Utilization of GIS technique and the achievement of maps deep peat deposits, ice rich permafrost complex and non- of risk phenomena» run by the team from West Univer- permafrost sites in permafrost regions. sity of Timisoara and led by Mircea Voiculescu will con- The CAPP project proposes to contribute to and ini- tinue with the financial support of the National Council tiate new research activities at ca. 10-12 high latitude for Scientific Research in Superior Education (CNCSIS). transects in the Northern Hemisphere representing the The main monitoring program of periglacial slope proc- range of ecoclimatic and permafrost regions, comple- esses is focused on the Parâng and Fagaras Mountains in mented by two transects in the sub-Antarctic and Antarc- the next season. tic regions, and additional altitudinal transects in high- The papers presented at the International Workshop alpine environments. The new transects aim to incorpo- on Alpine Geomorphology and Mountain Hazards (Sep- rate already existing key sites of other projects, and inte- tember 23-26, 2004, Bâlea Cascada, Fagaras Mountains) gration with other IPY projects. Intensive study sites along were published in English in a special issue of Analele transects will investigate the allocation of below-ground Universitatii de Vest din Timisoara- Geografie. carbon in the landscape, comparing quantity and quality Present-day periglacial processes, glacial and periglacial between permafrost settings. Soil organic matter will be landforms, and permafrost relict features – particularly analyzed using a hierarchy of increasingly sophisticated rock glaciers – are currently studied in the eastern part of geochemical techniques. the Fagaras Mountains by Petru Urdea. Protocols are being developed for the carbon database, Within the project «Surface exposure dating of glacial field sampling, physico-chemical analyses and up-scaling deposits from the last glacial cycle, Evidence from the East tools. Inventory, monitoring, research and up-scaling ac- Alps, the Bavarian Forest, the Southern Carpathians and tivities of the CAPP project will result in a better under- the Altai Mountains» (2003-2005), coordinated by Anne standing of total below-ground organic matter allocation Reuther (Regensburg University), absolute age dating of and its susceptibility for decay, which will be used to evalu- glacial landforms by cosmogenic isotopes has been car- ate the fate of this very significant carbon pool under glo- ried out and was also applied to some rock glaciers of the bal warming and assess feedbacks from permafrost regions Retezat Mountains. to the global climate system. An important objective is to In order to better monitor the snow cover in moun- develop a carbon database that can be linked with remotely tain areas, a Laboratory of Nivo-meteorology and Ava- sensed classifications at global to regional scales used in lanche Prediction, coordinated by Maria Motoiu, was cre- climate, biome and ecosystem models. The carbon pool ated by the National Administration for Meteorology in dataset can be used for validation existing and future February 2004. It is aimed at investigating the future evo- modelling approaches. lution of snow cover, and the conditions prone to ava- The next step is a series of workshops to discuss and lanches. This laboratory will develop an elaborated finalize the CAPP workplan. A first interdisciplinary meet- nivological balance for each winter season. ing, supported by the ESF Program «The Role of Soils in the Terrestrial Carbon Balance», was held in Stockholm, Petru Urdea ([email protected]) November 24-26, 2005. About 30 researchers and young scientists with interests in cryopedology, arctic biogeo- chemistry, permafrost dynamics and modelling discussed CARBON POOLS IN PERMAFROST data bases and knowledge gaps in high latitude soil or- REGIONS ganic matter quantity and susceptibility for decay. For The International Permafrost Association has started future developments, see: www.geowiss.uni-hamburg.de/ a new project entitled Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions, i-boden/capp in short the CAPP project. Planning for this initiative Peter Kuhry ([email protected]) started at an IPA meeting on «Soil Carbon in the Eva-Maria Pfeiffer ([email protected]) Cryosphere», held in Stockholm, March 2005, in close cooperation with the IPA Cryosol Working Group (CWG). The initiative was accepted as an IPA project at THE PERMAFROST YOUNG EUCOP II (Potsdam, June 2005), with further support ESEARCHERS ETWORK from the WCRP-CliC Project and the ESSP-Global Car- R N (PYRN) bon Project (see Frozen Ground 28, p. 52). The idea of a network to formally facilitate and The CAPP project aims at quantifying below-ground strengthen contacts among young scientists in the perma- organic matter quantity and quality along ecoclimatic and frost community arose from the need for an integrated

42 Frozen Ground single source of information for specific resources vital to issues studied in the «Mallik» gas hydrate well drilled in young scientists (fellowships, conference travel funding, permafrost in Canada’s Northwest Territory - a study which position opportunities, etc). Additionally the International was also the subject of several specific papers. Polar Year (IPY) prompted the need for a visible represen- Proceedings from the conference may be ordered as tation of the young permafrost community at the newly books or in electronic format from the following link: formed Youth Steering Committee (YSC) of the IPY. http://www.icgh.org/order_form.pdf The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) Roar Larsen ([email protected]) is therefore going to be formally established within the IPA framework and will maintain means of communica- tion among young researchers involved in permafrost re- search. It will report on young researchers’ activities to CLIMATE AND CRYOSPHERE the IPA adhering bodies and working parties and repre- The Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) project of the sent permafrost scientists and engineers within broader World Climate Research programme held the second ses- international and national organisations. sion of its Scientific Steering Group (SSG) in the Danish PYRN is implementing a website to report on confer- Polar Centre, Copenhagen, on November 6-9, 2005. ences, events, jobs and graduate positions, research and Based on an analysis of the results of a very successful other topics related to permafrost science (www.awi- First CliC International Science Conference «Cryosphere, potsdam.de/pyrn). It will distribute an electronic news- the ‘Frozen’ Frontier of Climate Science: Theory, Obser- letter to the young researchers’ communities related to vations, and Practical Applications» held in Beijing, China the listed topics and will seek to promote and publicize on April 11-15, 2005, CliC has finalised its Implementa- research undertaken by young researchers. Thus we at- tion Strategy (http://ipo.npolar.no/reports/archive/ tempt to raise the public’s attention to permafrost research wcrp_inf_2005_126.pdf). During the conference approxi- and its relevance to global environmental issues. PYRN mately 250 participants from 22 countries gave 137 oral will inform young permafrost researchers of the outreach presentations and presented 125 registered posters. Many and educational activities planned by the YSC. of CliC and related initiatives will be built on the mo- Although at a preliminary stage, the creation of PYRN mentum generated by the First CliC International Sci- will rely on your motivation and feedback. We are there- ence Conference and planning of the International Polar fore looking for representatives from every country and Year 2007/2008 (IPY). CliC has solicited submission of for young researchers motivated to take part in this initia- many IPY project proposals in the area of cold climate tive. region science, polar hydrology, Arctic and Southern Hugues Lantuit ([email protected]) Ocean, Antarctic climate, etc. An overarching proposal submitted by CliC is entitled «State and Fate of Polar Cryosphere». It suggests a comprehensive snapshot of the HE IFTH NTERNATIONAL cryosphere during the IPY in order to deepen the insight T F I into the climate of polar regions, obtain a coherent CONFERENCE ON GAS HYDRATES multidisciplinary benchmark against which past and fu- Following a series started in New York and continued ture changes will be assessed, and to develop a system for in Toulouse, Salt Lake City and Yokohama, the most im- cryospheric observations. portant conference devoted solely to gas hydrate phenom- IPA is a close partner of CliC in many initiatives. They ena (held every 3 years), the Fifth International Confer- contribute for example to the Integrated Global Observ- ence on Gas Hydrates (ICGH 5) was held in Trondheim, ing Strategy Theme on Cryosphere, which is expected to Norway, June 12-16, 2005. A cooperation between Statoil, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, SINTEF, and an international committee of prominent hydrate researchers gathered more than 300 researchers and students for presentation and discussion of about 250 papers and posters. Covering the full range of hydrate re- search and associated phenomena, from fundamental structure studies, through thermodynamics and kinetics, to industrial applications in the oil and gas industry, the conference also contained two full sessions on «Explora- tion, Resources, and Environment». Papers on specific permafrost issues like in-situ thermodynamics and kinet- ics, gas hydrate mapping, and production of gas from hydrates were presented. The latter issue saw much dis- cussion of work being performed in Canada, the U.S.A. Matthew Beedle receives an award for his presentation at and Japan. One highlight was the conference dinner the CliC Conference in Beijing. Photograph provided by speech, presented by Scott R. Dallimore on the exciting CliC.

Frozen Ground 43 produce a report containing a plan of future development is under development that will adhere to the IUGG stand- of cryospheric observations with a 10-15 year perspec- ards for such an Association. tive. The idea is to produce a globally coordinated plan, The former IAHS/ICSI convened a Symposium on which would be attractive for the interested community the «Contribution from Glaciers and Snow Cover to Run- and feasible for observing system operators. The website off from Mountains in Different Climates» and a work- of the Theme is located at: http://stratus.ssec.wisc.edu/ shop on «Andean Glaciology» at the IAHS General As- igos-cryo. The IPA community is cordially invited to con- sembly, at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil in April 2005. tribute to the Theme report. This will help to strengthen The IUGG/CCS co-organized a joint symposium on support for the permafrost networks as parts of the global «Snow and ice covers feedback to interactions with forest, cryospheric observations. atmosphere and environment» at the IAMAS (Interna- The SSG session also reviewed ongoing project and tional Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sci- related activities, and adjusted the project structure so that ences) General Assembly in Beijing, China, in August it would better fit the project tasks, particularly during 2005. This symposium had sessions on «Modelling forest the period of IPY. The three IPA proposals form an inte- snow processes», on «Glacier mass balance and its cou- gral part of the CliC Project Area (CPA) 1 «Terrestrial pling to atmospheric circulation» and on «Mountain snow cryosphere and hydrometeorology of cold regions». The and ice cover». main idea of the CPA1 activities during the IPY is to es- A field course on «Methods of glacier observations» tablish additional multidisciplinary observing sites and to was held in La Paz and on Glaciar Zongo, Bolivia, August link their observations into a data integration system based 1-11, 2005. It was co-sponsored by IUGG/CCS together on the principles of the WCRP Coordinated Enhanced with the French Institut de Recherche pour le Observing Network (CEOP, see www.ceop.net). Through Développement (IRD/GREATICE), the Instituto de this initiative, a new generation of datasets representing Hidráulica e Hidrología (IHH) of Universidad Mayor de polar energy and water cycle should be generated. With San Andrés, Bolivia, Alliance Française (AF), and IHP/ the spectrum of CliC activities broadening, the SSG was UNESCO. The training course was organized to support particularly keen to ensure that all components of the the development of the Andean Glacier Mass Balance project are able to harmonically contribute to the new Network. WCRP framework «Coordinated Observation and Pre- The CCS Bureau met in Paris on November 3-4, 2005. diction of the Earth System» (COPES, see: http:// Among the many topics discussed were plans for the copes.ipsl.jussieu.fr). The COPES main goal is to convert cryospheric sessions at the IUGG in Perugia, and plan- the wide range of WCRP achievements into practical ap- ning for the Cambridge conference in August 2006. Jerry plications of great significance for the society, such as sea- Brown participated in the meeting and provided infor- sonal forecasting, seal level rise, climate prediction and mation on related IPA activities including the joint CCS- attribution. An example of a particularly valuable joint IPA working group on Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in initiative of CliC, IPA, and the Global Carbon Project is High Mountains. the assessment of the carbon stocks in upper layers of per- For further information see: www.glaciology.su.se/ICSI mafrost and the potential of its release into the atmos- phere in a warming climate. Georg Kaser ([email protected])

Victoria Lytle ([email protected]) Vladimir Ryabinin ([email protected]) SCANNET The Scandinavian/ North European Network of Ter- restrial Field Bases (SCANNET) is a network of terres- COMMISSION FOR THE CRYOSPHERIC trial field bases, research stations managers and user groups SCIENCES in northern Scandinavia and Europe, that are collaborat- ing to improve comparative observations and access to The ICSI (International Commission on Snow and information on Environmental Change in the North. Ice) was formally replaced by the IUGG Commission for There are strong links between SCANNET and IPA as the Cryospheric Sciences (CCS) through a decision of the sites within SCANNET also are part of the CALM net- IUGG (International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics) work and several have associated boreholes. A Newsletter Executive Committee. This change is aimed at promot- is published twice a year and available online. It presents ing all cryospheric sciences and to elevate the study of the activities and news from the sites. For further informa- cryosphere to a more prominent position within the tion see: www.scannet.nu IUGG, from a Commission within IAHS (International Association of Hydrological Sciences) to a separate Asso- Margareta Johansson ciation under IUGG. A final vote on the formation of a ([email protected]) new Association will be taken by the IUGG governing body by 2007, in conjunction with the IUGG Assembly in Perugia, Italy. A set of statutes for the new Association

44 Frozen Ground NORTHERN RESEARCH BASINS EDITORSHIP OF The Northern Research Basins (NRB) Working Group PERMAFROST AND PERIGLACIAL PROCESSES was established in 1975 under the International Hydro- Professor Emeritus Hugh French, Editor-in-Chief of logical Program. The role of the working group is to en- the Wiley journal Permafrost and Periglacial Processes since courage research on the hydrology of basins in northern he founded it some 16 years ago, will step down from his latitudes where snow, ice and frozen ground play a domi- position at the end of 2005. Hugh French’s founding of nant role. The 15th International Northern Research Ba- PPP gave a focused outlet to the international permafrost sins Symposium and Workshop was held August 29 - Sep- community at a time when other specialized journals were tember 2, 2005 in the usual NRB travelling format be- disappearing. PPP’s high impact factor demonstrates its tween Luleå and Kvikkjokk, Sweden. The conference ongoing importance to geocryology and cold regions’ en- theme was «Links between human activities and high lati- gineering. Hugh will remain connected to the journal as tude hydrological systems». This theme stepped back from Honorary Editor and will contribute an annual review the global scale of the last few meetings, and concentrated paper covering developments in different aspects of per- on the regional and local importance of change in the mafrost science. Arctic to hydrological processes. The theme stressed the The new Editor will be Antoni Lewkowicz (Univer- increased demands placed on the water systems of cold sity of Ottawa). He has been Associate Editor at PPP since regions over the last 30 years whether it be energy pro- 1995. He was in charge of the review process for the Sev- duction (e.g. the oil and hydropower industries), new in- enth International Conference on Permafrost in 1998. dustries (e.g. eco-tourism) or social change within Arctic Antoni Lewkowicz will share responsibilities with Charles communities (e.g. urbanization and development). There Harris (Cardiff University) who has agreed to continue as were twenty-seven participants representing Canada, Den- Associate Editor. Membership in the Editorial Board, mark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Russia, Sweden, which has representation from ten of the IPA countries, the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. The 16th NRB is will be unchanged. The mandate and reputation of the journal – to rap- scheduled to be convened in 2007 in Petrozavodsk in the idly publish the very best international papers that ad- Karelia Republic, Russia. For further information see: vance permafrost science and engineering – will remain as http://aqua.tvrl.lth.se/NRB.html Hugh French’s enduring legacy. Larry Hinzman ([email protected]) Antoni Lewkowicz ([email protected])

Frozen Ground 45 PLANNING CALENDAR The following meetings share common interests with the IPA Membership and Working Parties. The list is not all inclusive, but is intended to help avoid overlaps in scheduling future IPA and other international meetings. Please send corrections and addi- tions to the IPA secretariat ([email protected]). Readers are referred to web sites or individual email contacts for more information.

2006 • August 21–25, International Symposium on Cryospheric • February 17, Ross Mackay’s 90th Birthday Celebration, The Indicators of Global Climate Change, joint CliC/IGS/ICSI University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Symposium, Cambridge, England (www.igsoc.org/sympo- (www.geog.ubc.ca/mackay2006) sia/2006/cambridge) th • March 16–18, The 36th Annual Arctic Workshop, • September 14–22, 9 International Symposium on High INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado Mountain Remote Sensing Cartography, Graz / Hohe (http://instaar.colorado.edu/meetings/AW2006) Tauern National Park, Austria (www.kfunigraz.ac.at/ ([email protected]) geowww/hmrsc/hmrsc_9) • March 22–29, Arctic Science Summit Week, Potsdam, Ger- • December 11–15, American Geophysical Union Fall Meet- many (www.assw2006.de) ([email protected]) ing, San Francisco, California (meetinginfo • March 27–30, International Conference on Alpine and Po- @agu.org); annual meeting of U.S. Permafrost Association lar Microbiology, Innsbruck, Austria (www.alpine-polar- and U.S. National Committee for NICOP microbiology2006.at) (info@alpine-polar-microbiology (www.uspermafrost.org) and (www.nicop.org) 2006.at) • April 2–7, European Geosciences Union meeting, Vienna, 2007 Austria (http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2006) • April 15-20, European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Aus- • April 4–6, Symposium «Climate Change: Organizing the tria (www.copernicus.org/EGU) Science in the American Cordillera» (CONCORD), • May, Annual Russian Permafrost Conference, Pushchino, Mendoza, Argentina ([email protected]) Russia ([email protected]) • May 8–12, 21st Polar Libraries Colloquy, Rome, Italy • July 2–13, 24th General Assembly of the International Un- ([email protected]) (http://arcticcentre.urova.fi/ ion of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), titled «Earth Our polarweb/polar/plcmain.htm) Changing Planet», Perugia, Italy (www. • May 8–12, 2nd International Workshop on Ice Caves iugg2007perugia.it) (IWIC-II), Demänovská dolina, Slovak Republic (http:// • July 29–August 6, XVII INQUA Congress, Cairns, Aus- users.unimi.it/icecaves/IWIC-II) ([email protected]) tralia ([email protected]) • May 21–25, 5th International Conference on Contaminants • August 26 – September 1, 10th International Symposium in Freezing Ground 2006, Holmenkollen Park Hotel, Oslo, on Antarctic Earth Sciences (ISAES-2007), University of Norway (www.geologi.no/cfg5) California, Santa Barbara, U.S.A. (http:// • May 29-31, International Permafrost Conference «Estima- isaes2007.geol.ucsb.edu) tion and Forecast of the Earth’s Cryosphere State and • September 25-27, 8th International Symposium on Cold Changes: Theory and Practice», Tyumen, West Siberia, Rus- Region Development, Tampere, Finland (www.ril.fi) sia. Contact: David Gilichinsky ([email protected]) • 16th Northern Research Basins International Symposium and Elena Spirina ([email protected]) and Workshop, Petrozavodsk, Karelia Republic, Russia • June 5–10, The Sixth International Meeting «Heat flow (http://aqua.tvrl.lth.se/NRBsymposia/News.html) and the structure of the lithosphere, 2006», Castle Farm • December 10–14, American Geophysical Union Fall Meet- Bykov, Czech Republic (www.poce.cz/heatflow) ing, San Francisco, California, U.S.A. • June 19–23, International Symposium on Earth and Plan- ([email protected]); annual meeting of U.S. Perma- etary Ice-Volcano Interactions, Reykjavík, Iceland frost Association and U.S. National Committee for NICOP (www.igsoc.org/symposia/2006/iceland) (www.uspermafrost.org) and (www.nicop.org) • July 9–15, 18th World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS), Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. (www.colostate.edu/programs/ IUSS/18wcss/index.html) 2008 • July 9–17, SCAR XXIX (Scientific Committee on Antarc- • April, European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Austria tic Research) and COMNAP XVIII (Council of Manag- (www.copernicus.org/EGU) ers of National Antarctic Programmes) combined confer- • May, Annual Russian Permafrost Conference, Pushchino, ence, Hobart, Australia (www.scarcomnap2006.org) th Russia ([email protected]) • July 23–26, 13 International Conference on Cold Re- • June 29–July 3, Ninth International Conference on Per- gions Engineering 2006, Orono, Maine, U.S.A. mafrost, Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.A. (www.nicop.org) (www.asce.org/conferences/coldregions2006) • August 5–14, 33rd International Geological Congress, Olso, • August 7–16, Asian Conference on Permafrost, Lanzhou, Norway (www.33igc.org) ([email protected]) China (Aug. 7-9) and Field Excursion along the Qinghai- • August 15–20, 31st Congress of the International Geo- Tibet Railway (Aug. 10-16). Lai Yuanming graphical Union, Tunis (www.igu-net.org) ([email protected]) (www.casnw.net/permafrost) or Jerry • December, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Brown ([email protected]) Francisco, California, U.S.A. ([email protected]); an- nual meeting of U.S. Permafrost Association

46 Frozen Ground INTERNATIONAL PERMAFROST ASSOCIATION DECEMBER 2005 COUNCIL MEMBERS / NATIONAL CONTACTS

Argentina Germany Norway Dr. Dario Trombotto Prof. Dr. Lorenz King Dr. Kaare Flaate Geocryology Geographisches Institut Bernhard Herresv. 6 IANIGLA-CRICYT-CONICET Justus-Liebig-Universität N-0376 Oslo, Norway Bajada del Cerro s/n Senckenbergstrasse 1 Tel: 47 22 491 087 Casilla de Correo 330 D-35390 Giessen, Germany Fax: 47 22 499 687 5500 Mendoza, Argentina Tel: 49 641 99 36205 [email protected] EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Tel: 54 261 4287029 & 4274011 ext 19 Fax: 49 641 99 36209 & 9936269 Fax: 54 261 4287029 / 54 261 4287370 [email protected] Poland [email protected] Prof. Kazimierz Pekala PRESIDENT [email protected] Iceland Department of Geomorphology Dr. Jerry Brown Dr. Olafur Arnalds Maria Curie-Sklodowska University P.O. Box 7 Austria RALA (Agricultural Research Institute) Akademicka 19 Woods Hole, MA 02543, U.S.A. Dr. Gerhard Karl Lieb Keldnaholt 20-033 Lublin, Poland Tel/Fax: 1 508 457 4982 Institute of Geography and Regional IS-112 Reykjavik, Iceland Tel: 48 81 537 5915 [email protected] Sciences Tel: 354 577 1010 Fax: 48 81 537 5045 University of Graz Fax: 354 577 1020 [email protected] Heinrichstrasse 36 [email protected] VICE PRESIDENTS A-8010 Graz, Austria Russia Prof. Charles Harris Tel: 43 316 380 5146 Italy Dr. Vladimir P. Melnikov Department of Earth Sciences Fax: 43 316 380 9886 Prof. Francesco Dramis Earth Cryosphere Institute Cardiff University, P.O. Box 914 [email protected] Dipartimento di Scienze Geologiche Russian Academy of Sciences Cardiff CF10 3YE, Wales U.K. Universita Roma Tre Box 1230, 625000 Tyumen, Russia Tel: 44 (0) 29 2087 4336 Belgium Largo S. Leonardo Murialdo 1 Tel: 7 345 225 1153 Fax: 44 (0) 29 2087 4326 Prof. Dr. Irénée Heyse 00146 Roma, Italy Fax: 7 345 222 3380 [email protected] University of Gent Tel: 39 0654888022 [email protected] Department of Geography Fax: 39 0654888201 Krijgslaan 281, blok S8 [email protected] Spain Dr. Georgy Z. Perlshstein B-9000 Gent, Belgium Alternate: Dr. Mauro Guglielmin Dr. David E. Palacios Institute of Geoenvironmental Tel: 32 9 2644691 [email protected] Dept. AGR y Geografía Física Science Fax: 32 9 2644985 Facultad de Geografía e Historia Ulansky 13, P.O. Box 145 [email protected] Japan Universidad Complutense 101000 Moscow, Russia Prof. Masami Fukuda 28040 Madrid, Spain Tel: 7 095 924 9622 Canada Institute of Low Temperature Science Tel: 34 913945955 Dr. Brian J. Moorman Hokkaido University Fax: 34 913945963 [email protected] Earth Science Program N19 W8 Kita 19, Nishi 8, Kita-Ku [email protected] University of Calgary Sapporo 060-0819, Japan MEMBERS 2500 University Drive N.W. Tel: 81 11 706 5445 Sweden Mr. Don W. Hayley Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada Fax: 81 11 706 7142 Dr. Jonas Åkerman EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. Tel: 1 403 220 4835 [email protected] Department of Physical Geography 255, 1715 Dickson Avenue Fax: 1 403 282 6561 University of Lund Kelowna, British Columbia, [email protected] Kazakhstan Sölvegatan 13 V1Y 9G6 Canada Prof. Aldar P. Gorbunov 233 62 Lund, Sweden China Institute of Geography MES RK, Tel: 46 222 0000 / 0662 Tel/Fax: 1 250 767 9033 Dr. Ma Wei 99 Pushkin St., Fax: 46 222 03 21 [email protected] CAREERI Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan [email protected] Chinese Academy of Sciences Tel: 7 3272 71 32 63 Prof. Hans-W. Hubberten Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China Fax: 7 3272 618102 Switzerland Alfred Wegener Institute Tel: 86 931 8279806 [email protected] Dr. Daniel Vonder Mühll Telegrafenberg A43 Fax: 86 931 4967262 Vice Rectorat for Research Potsdam, D-14773, Germany [email protected] Mongolia University of Basel Alternate: Professor Huijun Jin Dr. Tsogtbaatar Jamsran, Petersgraben 35/3 Tel: 49 331 288 2100 [email protected] Institute of Geoecology CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland Fax: 49 331 288 2137 Mongolian Academy of Sciences Tel: 41 61 267 0903 [email protected] Denmark Baruun Selbe-15 Fax: 41 61 267 1239 Dr. Niels Foged Ulaanbaatar-211238, Mongolia [email protected] Prof. Zhu Yuanlin Department of Civil Engineering Tel: 976 11 321862 CAREERI BYG.DTU Building 119, Room 147 Fax: 976 11 321862 United Kingdom Chinese Academy of Sciences Technical University of Denmark [email protected] Dr. Julian Murton Lanzhou 730000, China DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark Alternate: N. Sharkhuu Department of Geography Tel: 45 4525 5087 [email protected] University of Sussex Tel: 86 931 884 1490 Fax: 45 4593 1755 Brighton BN1 9QJ, United Kingdom Fax: 86 931 888 5241 [email protected] The Netherlands Tel: 44 (0)1273 678293 [email protected] Dr. Jef Vandenberghe Fax: 44 (0)1273 677196 Finland Vrije Universiteit [email protected] IPA SECRETARIAT Prof. Matti Seppälä Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences Dr. Hanne H. Christiansen, Physical Geography Laboratory Department of Quaternary Geology United States of America IPA Secretariat leader University of Helsinki and Geomorphology Prof. Larry Hinzmann P.O. Box 64 De Boelelaan 1085 University of Alaska Fairbanks Dr. Angélique Prick FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Water and Environmental Research The University Centre in Svalbard, Tel: 358 9 191 50768 Netherlands Center UNIS Fax: 358 9 191 50760 Tel: 31 20 5987 368 Institute of Northern Engineering P.O. Box 156, [email protected] Fax: 31 20 5989 941 P.O. Box 755860 N-9171 Longyearbyen, Norway [email protected] 437 Duckering Building Tel: 47 7902 3300 – 3320 France Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-5860, U.S.A. Dr. François Costard New Zealand Tel: 1 907 474 7331 Fax: 47 7902 3301 CNRS/UPS UMR 8148 IDES Dr. Dean Peterson [email protected] Fax: 1 907 474 7979 Interactions et Dynamique des Antarctica New Zealand [email protected] Environnements de Surface Private Bag 4745 Université de Paris-Sud, Bât. 509 Christchurch, New Zealand F-91405 ORSAY Cedex, France Tel: 64 3 358 0200 Tel: 33 1 69154910 Fax: 64 3 358 0211 Fax: 33 1 60154863 [email protected] [email protected] Alternate: Dr. Megan Balks [email protected]

Frozen Ground 47 ASSOCIATE MEMBERS STANDING COMMITTEE, Co-Chairs Data, Information and Communication Portugal South Africa Dr. Gonçalo Teles Vieira Dr. Ian Meiklejohn Prof. Roger G. Barry Dr. Sharon Smith Centro de Estudos Geograficos, Department of Geography, World Data Center for Glaciology, Geological Survey of Canada University of Lisbon, Geoinformatics & Meteorology CIRES/NSIDC Earth Sciences Sector, Faculdade de Letras, University of Pretoria University of Colorado, UCB 449, Natural Resources Canada Alameda da Universidade Pretoria 0002, South Africa Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA 601 Booth St., K1A OE8 Ottawa, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal Tel: 27 12 4204049 Tel: 1 303 492 5488 Ontario, Canada Tel: 351 217940218 Fax: 27 12 4203284 Fax: 1 303 492 2468 Tel: 1 613 947 7066 Fax: 351 217938690 [email protected] [email protected] Fax: 1 613 992 0190 [email protected] [email protected]

WORKING GROUPS, Co-Chairs

1. Antarctic Permafrost and Periglacial 4. Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Dr. Rune S. Ødegård Environments High Mountains Gjøvik University College Monitoring Subgroup (Joint IPA and SCAR) (Joint IPA and Commission for the P.O. Box 191 Dr. Sharon Smith Prof. Jim Bockheim Cryospheric Sciences) N-2802 Gjøvik, Norway [email protected] Department of Soil Science Prof. Dr. Andreas Kääb (Chair) Tel: 47 6113 5276 University of Wisconsin Institute of Geosciences Fax: 47 6113 5320 Modelling Subgroup Madison WI 53706 1299, U.S.A University of Oslo [email protected] Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky Tel: 1 608 263 5903 P.O. Box 1047 Blindern [email protected] [email protected] N-0316 Oslo, Norway 7. Periglacial Landforms, Processes and Tel: 47 228 55812 Climate 9. Permafrost Astrobiology Dr. Jan Boelhouwers Fax: 47 228 57230 Prof. Ole Humlum Dr. David Gilichinsky Environment and Landscape Dynamics [email protected] Institute of Geosciences Institute of Physiochemical and Program University of Oslo Biological Department of Earth Sciences Prof. Bernd Etzelmüller (IPA Vice-chair) P.O. Box 1047 Blindern Problems in Soil Science Uppsala University Institute of Geosciences N-0316 Oslo, Norway Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142290 Villavägen 16 University of Oslo Tel: 47 228 55804 Russia S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden P.O. Box 1047 Blindern Fax: 47 228 54215 Tel: 7 096 773 2604 Tel: 46 18 4712524 N-0316 Oslo, Norway [email protected] Fax: 7 096 733 0595 Fax: 46 18 4712737 Tel: 47 228 57229 [email protected] [email protected] Fax: 47 228 54215 Prof. Norikazu Matsuoka [email protected] Graduate School of Life and Dr. Christopher P. McKay 2. Coastal and Offshore Permafrost Environmental Sciences Space Science Division, NASA Dr. Volker Rachold Dr. Jeffrey S. Kargel (CCS Vice-chair) Division of Geoenvironmental Sciences Mail Stop 245-3 Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and U.S.A. University of Tsukuba Moffett Field, CA 94035, U.S.A. Marine Research [email protected] Tennodai 1-1-1 Tel: 1 650 604 6864 Research Unit Potsdam Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan Fax: 1 650 604 6779 Telegrafenberg A43 Dr. John Reynolds (CCS Vice-chair) Tel: 81 29 853 4540 [email protected] D-14773 Potsdam, Germany United Kingdom Fax: 81 29 853 4540 Tel: 49 331 288 2174 [email protected] [email protected] 10. Permafrost Engineering Fax: 49 331 288 2137 Dr. Arne Instanes [email protected] 5. Isotopes and Geochemistry of Spatial Variability Subgroup Instanes Consulting Engineers Permafrost Dr. Achim A. Beylich Storetveitveien 96 Prof. Nikolai N. Romanovskii Dr. Hanno Meyer [email protected] N-5072 Bergen, Norway Department of Geocryology Alfred Wegener Institute Tel: 47 5536 3600 Faculty of Geology Telegrafenberg A43 8. Permafrost and Climate Fax: 47 5536 3601 Moscow State University D-14473 Potsdam, Germany Dr. Oleg A. Anisimov [email protected] Vorobyovy Gory Tel: 49 331 288 2115 Department of Climatology 119899, Moscow, Russia Fax: 49 331 288 2137 State Hydrological Institute Prof. Dr.Ted S. Vinson Tel: 7 095 939 1937 [email protected] 2nd Line V.O., 23 Department of Civil Engineering Fax: 7 095 932 8889 199053 St. Petersburg, Russia Oregon State University [email protected] Dr. Ron S. Sletten Tel: 7 812 323 3343 Cornvallis, Oregon 97331, U.S.A. Department of Earth & Space Sciences Fax: 7 812 323 1028 Tel: 1 541 737 3494 3. Cryosol & Quaternary Research Center [email protected] Fax: 1 541 737 3052 (Joint IPA and ISSS) University of Washington [email protected] Dr. Sergey V. Goryachkin Box 351310 Prof. Frederick E. Nelson Institute of Geography Seattle, Washington 98195- 1310, Department of Geography Russian Academy of Sciences U.S.A. University of Delaware Staromonetnyi pers., 29 Tel: 1 206 543 0571 Newark, Delaware 19716-2541, U.S.A. 109017 Moscow, Russia Fax: 1 206 543 0489 Tel: 1 302 831 0852 Tel: 7 095 238 1867 [email protected] Fax: 1 302 831 6654 Fax: 7 095 230 2090 [email protected] [email protected] 6. Mapping and Modelling of Mountain Permafrost Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Pfeiffer Dr. Dmitry S. Drozdov Institute of Soil Science Earth Cryosphere Institute University of Hamburg Russian Academy of Sciences SB INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Allende-Platz 2 Vavilov str. 30/7 74A D-20146 Hamburg, Germany 119991 Moscow, Russia Prof. Antoni G. Lewkowicz, Chair ([email protected]) Tel: 49 40 42838 4194 [email protected] Fax: 49 40 42838 2024 Dr. David Gilichinsky ([email protected]) [email protected] Dr. Sergei S. Marchenko Institute of Geography Prof. Huijun Jin ([email protected]) Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences 99 Puskin Str. Mr. Truls Mølmann ([email protected]) Almaty 480100, Kazakhstan [email protected] (temporary) Dr. Marcia Phillips ([email protected])

48 Frozen Ground