Ninth International Conference on Permafrost ... - IARC Research

Geocryology (Permafrost) Course at the University of Alaska FairbanksT.E. OsterkampGeophysical Institute, University of Alaska FairbanksEarly yearsProfessor Ebb Rice developed a course on ArcticEngineering during the 1960s at the University of AlaskaFairbanks. This course was the inspiration for a series ofcourses in engineering and science dealing with snow, ice,and permafrost. A course on the physics of ice was developedby Professor T.E. Osterkamp in 1970 and taught during theearly 1970s. This was followed by a series of separate specialtopics courses on snow, ice, and permafrost.These special topics courses evolved into Physics 643(Physical properties of snow, ice, and permafrost) taught in1974, Physics 693 (Physical properties of sea ice) taught in1975, and Physics 693 (Permafrost: Physical properties andprocesses) taught in 1976.Eventually, these courses evolved into separate courseson snow and ice (Professor Benson), glaciers (ProfessorHarrison), sea ice (Professor Osterkamp), and permafrost(Professor Osterkamp). Professor Weeks took over the seaice course when he came to the university in the mid-1980s.The permafrost course was taught for the second time in1979 through the Department of Geology and Geophysics,and I taught it every other year since then until 1997, whenI retired. Professor Romanovsky has taught the course sincethen using my course notes as a basis.Nature of the courseFrom the beginning, the permafrost course was seenprimarily as a materials science course about permafrost,its physical properties, and physical processes occurringwithin it. It was designed to provide students with thenecessary scientific background to understand and studypermafrost. Materials science courses bring together anumber of disciplines (physics, chemistry, geophysics,geology, engineering) to study a single material. A relativelylarge amount of background information had to be providedbecause there was an unusual diversity of student preparationand because the selected topics were often not covered inprevious courses.The course was designed for science and engineering studentsat the advanced undergraduate and beginning graduatestudent level and for research personnel with specialties inother areas. Minimum preparation for the course includedmathematics at the level of ordinary differential equationsand at least senior standing in the sciences or engineering.Topics included soil physics, especially thermodynamics;thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties; and heat andmass flow processes, particularly those related to freezingand thawing. Solved problems and applications from thefields of engineering, mining, geology, environmentalphysics and geophysics were used to illustrate the coursematerial. The course material was developed primarily frompublished papers. A fairly comprehensive literature surveywas provided as a guide to additional reading.Problems were developed for the purposes of providingexposure to additional topics, to illustrate certain points,and to allow the students to test their understanding of thematerial. The table of contents is reproduced below.PERMAFROST: PROPERTIES AND PROCESSES*T. E. OsterkampTable of ContentsI. IntroductionII. Soil physicsIII. Thermal propertiesIV. Thermal regime and heat flow without phasechangeV. Heat flow with phase changeVI. Coupled heat and mass flowVII. Selected mechanical propertiesVIII. Selected electrical propertiesIX. Methods of investigationX. Permafrost and climateXI. Subsea permafrostXII. Selected topicsAppendicesReferences*© 1995. All rights reserved. These notes may not bereproduced in any form.I have most of my lecture notes for the course transcribedand will have a few CDs available for people who areteaching courses on permafrost.241