 |
| Titel |
The International Permafrost Association: current initiatives for cryospheric research |
| VerfasserIn |
Karina Schollaen, Antoni G. Lewkowicz, Hanne H. Christiansen, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Hugues Lantuit, Lothar Schrott, Dimitry Sergeev, Ma Wei |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2015
|
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 17 (2015) |
| Datensatznummer |
250111920
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2015-12069.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| The International Permafrost Association (IPA), founded in 1983, has as its objectives to
foster the dissemination of knowledge concerning permafrost and to promote cooperation
among persons and national or international organizations engaged in scientific investigation
and engineering work on permafrost. The IPA’s primary responsibilities are convening
International Permafrost Conferences, undertaking special projects such as preparing
databases, maps, bibliographies, and glossaries, and coordinating international field programs
and networks. Membership is through adhering national or multinational organizations or as
individuals in countries where no Adhering Body exists. The IPA is governed by its Executive
Committee and a Council consisting of representatives from 26 Adhering Bodies
having interests in some aspect of theoretical, basic and applied frozen ground
research, including permafrost, seasonal frost, artificial freezing and periglacial
phenomena.
This presentation details the IPA core products, achievements and activities as
well as current projects in cryospheric research. One of the most important core
products is the circumpolar permafrost map. The IPA also fosters and supports the
activities of the Global Terrestrial Network on Permafrost (GTN-P) sponsored by the
Global Terrestrial Observing System, GTOS, and the Global Climate Observing
System, GCOS, whose long-term goal is to obtain a comprehensive view of the spatial
structure, trends, and variability of changes in the active layer thickness and permafrost
temperature.
A further important initiative of the IPA are the biannually competitively-funded Action
Groups which work towards the production of well-defined products over a period of two
years. Current IPA Action Groups are working on highly topical and interdisciplinary issues,
such as the development of a regional Palaeo-map of Permafrost in Eurasia, the
integration of multidisciplinary knowledge about the use of thermokarst and permafrost
landscapes, and defining permafrost research priorities - a roadmap for the future. The
latter project is a joint effort with the Climate and Cryosphere initiative (CliC)
and a contribution to the upcoming International Conference on Arctic Research
Planning III (ICARP III). The product stemming from the effort will consist of
a journal publication listing permafrost research priorities and putting them into
context.
In all of these activities, the IPA emphasizes the involvement of young researchers
(especially through the Permafrost Young Researchers Network and APECS) as well as its
collaboration with international partner organizations such as IASC, SCAR, CliC, IACS,
IUGS and WMO. |
|
|
|
|
|
|