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PROJECT SUMMARY
Intellectual Merit: There is no global database that defines the thermal state of permafrost within a specific time interval. Internationally, reported or unpublished temperature measurements have been obtained at various depths and periods over the past five or more decades, and it is known that these temperatures have changed at different rates in different regions. Analysis of temperature measurements obtained in these boreholes provides historical records of secular surface climate changes (deep holes) and interannual to decadal changes in the surface boundary layer (intermediate depths). The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) is a metadata-based system established in the late 1990s under the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which currently contains more than 450 documented borehole and 125 active layer sites across both polar regions. In Alaska, two major series of boreholes exist within the GTN-P with observations dating back to the 1970s; the US Geological Survey deep boreholes (>125 m) and the University of Alaska’s intermediate boreholes (<100m). This proposal will formally link approximately 66 Alaskan boreholes with similar sets of observations in other countries, and in so doing will formally initiate the International Network of Permafrost Observatories (INPO). This work will coordinate data collection using standard equipment and protocols at the Alaskan borehole sites and at a selected and comparable number of Russian borehole sites. The Alaskan and Russian borehole temperature data sets will provide the baseline needed to reconstruct past surface temperatures, to assess the future rates of change in near-surface permafrost temperatures and permafrost boundaries, and to provide spatial data for validation of climate scenario models and temperature reanalysis approaches.
Relevance to IPY: This proposal provides the US contribution to the proposed International Polar Year Thermal State of Permafrost (IPY/TSP) project that proposes to measure temperatures in a large number of globally distributed boreholes in order to provide a “snapshot” of permafrost temperatures in both time and space.
Broader Impacts: IPY themes addressed in this proposal include Themes 1 and 2 on the current state of and changes in the polar environment. Broader concerns related to a warming Earth and the many societal issues in the high latitude and high mountain regions of planet Earth will be addressed. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report in 2005 renewed concerns that enhanced thawing or degradation of permafrost has had major impacts on infrastructure, coastal processes and local communities, reflecting concerns of IPY Theme 6-Human Societies in Polar Regions. The objective and plans of the IPY/TSP closely complement the interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) and its terrestrial requirements to systematically assess recent changes in the pan-arctic landmass and terrestrial ecosystems, specifically in pan-arctic hydrology and permafrost. This project also addresses objectives of the terrestrial Circumarctic Environmental Observatories Network (CEON) and of the new international initiative based on US (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA) - Russian (Russian Academy of Sciences, RAS) program titled Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI).
Education and training are major goals of this project. Within the US there are fewer than ten government and academic researchers dealing with the acquisition and analysis of permafrost temperatures. This proposal provides for training of several young specialists. The establishment of permafrost curricula will be pursued with field sites both in Alaska and in Russia and exchange of students; for example, with Tyumen State Oil and Gas University and the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). The researchers' experience will also be applied to local community concerns about degrading permafrost both in Alaska and Russia.
This proposal requests support for permafrost long-term measurements and related activities for a three-year period encompassing the IPY period, and includes the upgrading and maintenance of the existing Alaskan and Russian borehole sites and for technological, logistical and operational support of observations at selected sites in Russia.
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