Ninth International Conference on Permafrost ... - IARC Research

First Results of Ground Surface Temperature Modeling in Finnmark,Northern NorwayHerman FarbrotDepartment of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Norway and Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, NorwayBernd EtzelmüllerDepartment of Geosciences, University of Oslo, NorwayKetil IsaksenNorwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, NorwayThomas V. SchulerNorwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, Oslo, NorwayOle Einar TveitoNorwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, NorwayHanne H. ChristiansenThe University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, NorwayIntroductionThe main objective of the Norwegian IPY project“Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribution to theThermal State of Permafrost in Norway and Svalbard” (TSPNORWAY) (http://www.tspnorway.com) is to measure andmodel the distribution of permafrost in northern Norway andSvalbard, as well as to assess its thermal state, thickness, andinfluence on periglacial landscape-forming processes.The inner part of Finnmark (Fig. 1), the northernmostcounty of mainland Norway, is a plain, having strongFigure 1. Location map showing three classes of mean annual air temperature (MAAT, 1961–1990) in Finnmark (based on Tveito et al. 2000).The dark grey shows areas where MAAT is lower than -3°C, light grey shows areas where MAAT is between -3°C, and -1°C, and white isMAAT higher than -1°C.73