Global Terrestrial Network For Permafrost
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The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN‐P) is the primary international programme concerned with monitoring
permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...
parameters. GTN‐P was developed in the 1990s by the International Permafrost Association (IPA) under the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), with the long-term goal of obtaining a comprehensive view of the spatial structure, trends and variability of changes in the
active layer In environments containing permafrost, the active layer is the top layer of soil that thaws during the summer and freezes again during the autumn. In all climates, whether they contain permafrost or not, the temperature in the lower levels of the ...
thickness and permafrost temperature. According to the GTN-P website, "GCOS and GTOS established 50
essential climate variables The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was established in 1992 as an outcome of the Second World Climate Conference, to ensure that the observations and information needed to address climate-related issues are obtained and made available to ...
(ECVs), of which one is permafrost. Within the GTN-P, involving the senior and
young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...
permafrost scientific community, two permafrost key variables have been identified as ECVs: * the thermal state of permafrost (TSP), which is permafrost temperature, long-term monitored by an extensive borehole network * the
active layer In environments containing permafrost, the active layer is the top layer of soil that thaws during the summer and freezes again during the autumn. In all climates, whether they contain permafrost or not, the temperature in the lower levels of the ...
thickness (ALT), which is the annual thaw depth of permafrost, mostly referring to the monitoring network of Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM)"


Network coordination

Permanent monitoring in GTN-P has been coordinated by the
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...
since its establishment. TSP was originally based at the
Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; , CGC) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the environment. A branch of the Earth Science ...
in Ottawa (GSC), Canada. The TSP observatories in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
have been supported by the US
National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
(NSF) and managed by the Geophysical Institute Permafrost Laboratory at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...
. Permafrost temperature data from these observatories are freely available at the dedicated US-Russian TSP website (www.permafrostwatch.org) and from the NSF Arctic Data Center. The latter provides preservation and access for all projects funded by NSF's Arctic Science Program. The CALM program was initially affiliated with and supported by the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) in 1991. CALM has had operational bases at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
(1991–1994), the
State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...
(1994–1997), the
University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
(1998–2003), the
University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...
(2003–2009) and is currently headquartered at
George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...
. Long-term support for data collection in
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
and Russia has been provided by the U.S. NSF and data from all CALM sites are available through a dedicated CALM web site and the
National Snow and Ice Data Center The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. NSIDC archives and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data and also maintains information ab ...
in Boulder, Colorado.


Governance structure

The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) governance structure aims to coordinate, manage, support and promote the GCOS and IPA initiative to monitor the thermal state of permafrost, which currently includes the active layer thickness and ground temperature in all permafrost regions of the Earth. GTN-P frames and adapts the best monitoring strategies and standards for permafrost monitoring in the context of existing and new developments in nature, science and technology. Members of the GTN-P governing board represent a wide palette of specialties involved in permafrost observation as well as specialists of data management. The GTN-P governing board consists of the Steering Committee, the advisory board and the Secretariat.


Steering Committee

* the Steering Committee (SC) is the Governing body of the GTN-P * the Steering Committee consists of not more than six members which are jointly nominated by leading GCOS,
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...
and GTN-P representatives and the scientific community * members of the SC are renewed every four years; re-election is possible * activities of the SC are managed by the SC Chair, which is elected by the SC * the SC meets approximately annually to assess the state of the international monitoring of
permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...
* the SC reviles the issues and establishes the agenda about which the advisory board shall be consulted * the SC reports approximately annually on the GTN-P activities to the funding agencies and umbrella organizations of the GCOS and the IPA


Advisory board

* the advisory board is the body that provides non-binding strategic advice and scientific expertise to the management of GTN-P * representatives to the Board are jointly nominated by the GTN-P Steering Committee, the IPA Steering Committee and the GTN-P Secretariat * it will serve for four-year renewable terms, and will normally communicate electronically * the advisory board advises the GTN-P, GCOS and IPA initiatives concerning present practice and future developments of the monitoring of permafrost, and also on the delivery of datasets to the wider permafrost community * it periodically evaluates the work of the GTN-P Steering Committee and the GTN-P Secretariat in approximately four-year interval


Secretariat

* the Secretariat is the executing body that is managing the current business of the GTN-P * the Secretariat is nominated by the GTN-P Steering Committee * members of the Secretariat are renewed every four years; re-election is possible * the Secretariat is responsible for the dialogue and linkages with other organizations, the periodic reporting and release of products for GTN-P and the financial management including fundraising * it is responsible for the data management including integration, standardization, quality control, formatting, archiving and publishing of the GTN-P data * activities are coordinated by the Director * the Technical Director is responsible for the data management system * the Secretariat coordinates the cooperation between the umbrella organizations of the GCOS and the IPA (led by the network coordinator) * members communicate electronically on a regular basis * members support the GTN-P Database and maintain the Data Management System * it communicates with and supports the National Correspondents of GTN-P to facilitate the upload and quality control of TSP and CALM data to the GTN-P Database * it reports annually to the Steering Committee and the advisory board about the status of the GTN-P Database and produce policy-relevant bulletins on GTN-P outputs


National Correspondents

* National Correspondents (NC) are proposed by the IPA national Adhering Bodies * NC foster the implementation of the GTN-P strategy in their country * NC are responsible for stimulating and coordinating the collection of data, quality control, and reporting by the individual investigators * NC maintain close contacts with relevant institutions and funding agencies in their country and the IPA national Adhering Bodies


GTN-P database

The GTN-P database is hosted at the Arctic Portal in Akureyri,
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. It is managed in close cooperation with the
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (German: ''Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung'') is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association ...
in Potsdam, Germany, which was also the coordinator of the now-closed PAGE21 project{{cite web, url=https://page21.eu/news/467-page21-officially-closed, title=PAGE21 officially closed!, date=5 November 2015 within EU 7th framework programme, the main sponsor for the establishment of this database. The database management operates towards providing a web-based resource for essential climate variables (ECV) of the Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P), aiming to enable the assessment of the relation between ground temperature, gas fluxes and the Earth's climate system. The database contains time series of borehole temperatures and grids of active layer thickness: TSP and ALT. The GTN-P database additionally contains air and surface temperature and moisture (DUE Permafrost, MODIS) measured in the terrestrial Panarctic, Antarctic and Mountainous realms.


References


External links


Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (Official website)
Permafrost Earth observation projects