Permafrost is warming at a global scale

Permafrost warming has the potential to amplify global climate change, because when frozen sediments thaw it unlocks soil organic carbon. Yet to date, no globally consistent assessment of permafrost temperature change has been compiled. Here we use a global data set of permafrost temperature time series from the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost to evaluate temperature change across permafrost regions for the period since the International Polar Year (2007-2009). During the reference decade between 2007 and 2016, ground temperature near the depth of zero annual amplitude in the continuous permafrost zone increased by 0.39 ± 0.15 °C. Over the same period, discontinuous permafrost warmed by 0.20 ± 0.10 °C. Permafrost in mountains warmed by 0.19 ± 0.05 °C and in Antarctica by 0.37 ± 0.10 °C. Globally, permafrost temperature increased by 0.29 ± 0.12 °C. The observed trend follows the Arctic amplification of air temperature increase in the Northern Hemisphere. In the discontinuous zone, however, ground warming occurred due to increased snow thickness while air temperature remained statistically unchanged

The new Page21 Data Management System for the Global Terrestrial Network of Permafrost

The Data Management System (DMS) of the Page21 EU project operates towards providing a web-based resource for the essential climate variables (ECV) permafrost of the Global Terrestrial Network for 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 for borehole temperatures and grids of active layer thickness (TSP, CALM) plus air and surface temperature and moisture (DUE Permafrost, MODIS) measured in the terrestrial Panarctic, Antarctic and Mountainous realms. This DMS will provide, for the first time, a dynamic and comprehensive database for permafrost monitoring parameters where permafrost researchers and other stakeholders will be able to download data and detailed metadata for a specific site or region following international standards for geospatial metadata ISO 19115/2 and TC/221. As an open-source spatio-temporal database it is implemented with PostGIS, the spatial version of PostgreSQL, following the object-oriented logic. Carefully designed user interfaces, tutorials, templates, and the nomination of National Correspondents (NCs) provide the tools to facilitate the smooth input and extraction of data. Ad hoc visualizations of different automatically calculated statistics of the uploaded data will guide the user to an optimal data overview. The output is provided in most of the popular formats including csv, xml, NetCDF, kml, and shapefiles. This data management product will outlive the PAGE21 project and is therefore being conceived in collaboration within international networks for permafrost research (GTN-P, IPA)

The GTN-P Data Management System: A central database for permafrost monitoring parameters of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost(GTN-P)

Permafrost is a direct indicator of climate change and permafrost temperature and active-layer thickness have been identified as Essential Climate Variables (ECV) by the global observing community. The existing data, however, were far from being homogeneous and were not yet optimized for databases, without framework for data reporting or archival and the data documentation was incomplete. Within the EU FP7 project PAGE 21, Arctic Portal has developed a central Data Management System (DMS) for permafrost monitoring parameters of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) and others. Each component of the DMS, including parameters, data levels and metadata formats were developed in cooperation with the GTN-P, the International Permafrost Association (IPA) and Arctic Portal. The researcher can now edit, visualize and download standardized datasets, metadata, charts and statistics of all relevant parameters for a specific site in all partner countries. The GTN-P DMS is based on an object oriented model (OOM) following the framework Model/View/Controller (MVC) of Cakephp. It is implemented with open source technologies with the PostGIS database and Geoserver. To ensure interoperability and enable potential inter-database search, the system follows the evolution of the Semantic Web (Linking Geospatial Data); the database structure and content are mapped towards xml, xslt, rdf, and owl. Moreover, metadata comply with the ISO 19115/2 and ISO TC/211 standards for geospatial information. Datasets are then normalized based on a control vocabulary registry. Tools are further developed to provide data processing, analysis capability and quality control. The end of the distribution chain deliver highly structured datasets towards modelers in NetCDF files, format developed by UNIDATA. The elaboration of this project highlights the absence of standardized data model for scientific relational databases as well as a lack of ontology definition and mapping within and between scientific communities

Polar Prediction Matters -- A Dialogue Platform to Engage with Forecast Users

The Year of Polar Prediction, initiated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and taking place between mid-2017 and mid-2019, attracts considerable attention to polar forecasting. However, our knowledge of what information is really needed at the end of the forecast chain is rather limited. In particular, important insights into the use of environmental forecasts by users operating in polar regions are often restricted to relatively small audiences, such as the participants of specific science meetings. Together with partners from the EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects APPLICATE and Blue-Action, the International Coordination Office for the Polar Prediction Project (PPP) and the PPP-subcommittee on “Societal and Economic Research and Application” have initiated a non-peer reviewed forum titled Polar Prediction Matters with the main aim to strengthen the dialogue between polar forecast providers and users. The platform facilitates discussion between those that research, develop, and provide polar environmental forecasts and those that use (or could use) polar environmental forecasts to guide socio-economic decisions. Polar Prediction Matters features written contributions that provide a range of individual views on how polar environmental forecasts (and other environmental information such as satellite imagery) are actually used, what additional information is needed, and what factors might limit the effective use of forecasts. The majority of contributions offers perspectives from forecast users, but contributions by providers (meteorological and sea-ice services and climate scientists) and social scientists concerning the creation, delivery, and utilization of forecast information and services are also included. Collectively, these diverse perspectives will contribute to a better understanding of the actual needs of users, thus helping guide research towards significantly improved prediction capabilities in polar regions in a way that is meaningful to a wide variety of stakeholders. In this presentation, we will report on first contributions and experiences with the forum available at https://blogs.helmholtz.de/polarpredictionmatters/

Quality assessment of permafrost thermal state and active layer thickness data in GTN-P

The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P, gtnp.org) established the new ‘dynamic’ GTN-P Database (gtnpdatabase.org), which targets the Essential Climate Variable (ECV) permafrost, described by the thermal state of permafrost (TSP) and active layer thickness (ALT). This paper outlines the requirements for assessing the GTN-P data quality. Our aim is to conceive and discuss useful data quality indices as a basis for the 2nd official GTN-P National Correspondents Meeting in Quebec, September 2015. We describe the TSP and ALT data structures and the importance of precise metadata for the reliability of sound statements on the state and changes of permafrost. We define the most critical parameters related to quality assessment of TSP (borehole depth, number of sensors per depth, recording interval, sensor calibration) and ALT (grid structure, null values and exceeded maximum values, time consistency). We conceive and discuss a set of potential (to be reviewed at the GTN-P meeting) data quality indices by distinguishing between different borehole depths and spatial and temporal data dimensions of TSP and ALT datasets

APPLICATE: a project within the EU Arctic cluster for advanced prediction in polar regions and beyond

<p>Oral presentation at the Arctic Change Conference (international Arctic science cooperation session) in Québec, Canada.</p