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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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egions; these trends are mainly based on the<br />

Northern Hemisphere TSP research (Romanovsky et<br />

al., 2010b; Smith et al., 2010). Regional TSP results for<br />

North America (Smith et al., 2010), the Nordic Region<br />

(Christiansen et al., 2010), Russia (Romanovsky et al.,<br />

2010a), the Antarctic (Vieira et al., 2010), and Central<br />

Asia (Zhao et al., 2010) are presented in the June 2010<br />

issue of Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, where<br />

the Northern Hemisphere polar permafrost thermal<br />

state synthesis was also presented (Romanovsky et al.,<br />

2010b).<br />

Education and outreach is an important component<br />

of the present and future TSP. The Permafrost Young<br />

Researchers Network (PYRN) serves to involve<br />

students and early career researchers and to develop<br />

ownership of individual boreholes (Bonnaventure<br />

et al., 2009). The <strong>International</strong> University Courses<br />

on Permafrost (IUCP) was developed as an online<br />

searchable database for students when planning<br />

permafrost courses as part of their bachelor’s, master’s<br />

or Ph.D. degrees (Christiansen et al., 2007). Several<br />

field courses have enabled undergraduates, graduate<br />

student and teachers to become directly involved<br />

in permafrost measurements. At the pre-university<br />

level, a program to install boreholes and active layer<br />

measurement sites in the communities, primarily at<br />

schools, was expanded from Alaska to Canada and<br />

other countries (Yoshikawa, 2008). More than 100 such<br />

sites are included in the TSP.<br />

To be successful, TSP required additional sites,<br />

instrumentation and funding to provide representative<br />

geographic coverage. Most participating countries<br />

provided funding to national projects. For the<br />

Northern Hemisphere, U.S.A., Canadian, Norwegian,<br />

Swedish, Russian and European agencies made<br />

substantial contributions. To further encourage broad<br />

participation of Russian institutions and sites, a U.S.<br />

bilateral project with Russia was funded. IPY provided<br />

a unique opportunity to coordinate and expand<br />

observations in both hemispheres with development<br />

of new boreholes and CALM sites. For the Antarctic,<br />

Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Italy, New Zealand,<br />

Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,<br />

Switzerland, U.K. and U.S.A. started, continued or<br />

expanded their monitoring activities (see the following<br />

section). Specific national and multi-national projects<br />

were funded and these sponsors are identified in the<br />

June 2010 Permafrost and Periglacial Processes regional<br />

paper on the Antarctic (Vieira et al., 2010).<br />

The ultimate legacy of TSP will be the establishment<br />

of a permanent international network of permafrost<br />

observatories including boreholes and periglacial<br />

process monitoring in addition to standard<br />

meteorological observations and as appropriate<br />

coastal and carbon observations. A sustainable data<br />

activity, building on the GTN-P, involvement of the<br />

PYRN researchers and outreach activities are critical<br />

components of the future TSP.<br />

TSP related websites:<br />

TSP Alaska-Russia: www.permafrostwatch.org<br />

TSP Outreach: www.uaf.edu/permafrost<br />

TSP Norway: www.tspnorway.com<br />

NORPERM: www.ngu.no/norperm<br />

Canada: canpfnetwork.com, GTN-P: www.gtnp.org<br />

CALM: www.udel.edu/Geography/calm/<br />

FGDC: nsidc.org/fgdc/<br />

IPA: www.ipa-permafrost.org/<br />

Pre-university outreach: ww.uaf.edu/permafrost/<br />

PERMOS: www.permos.ch<br />

<strong>International</strong> University Courses on Permafrost (IUCP):<br />

http://ipa.arcticportal.org/index.php/Courses-<br />

IUCP/<br />

PYRN: http://pyrn.ways.org<br />

Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost,<br />

Periglacial and Soil Environments<br />

(ANTPAS, IPY no. 33)<br />

Gonçalo Vieira<br />

Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, Periglacial<br />

and Soil Environments (ANTPAS - no. 33) is an<br />

interdisciplinary IPY-core project of the IPA Working<br />

Group on Antarctic Permafrost and Periglacial<br />

Environments and of the SCAR Expert Group on<br />

Permafrost and Periglacial Environments. The project<br />

includes the Antarctic region as defined by the<br />

Antarctic Treaty, as well as South American permafrost<br />

regions. Significant advances in the framework<br />

of ANTPAS were obtained on: a) developing the<br />

Antarctic permafrost monitoring network; b)<br />

extending the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring<br />

Network – Southern Hemisphere (CALM-S); c) soil<br />

characterization and mapping, and d) mapping,<br />

s C I e n C e P r o g r a m 261

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