Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost

IPA Council Resolutions and Recommendations

Yellowknife, Canada, 26 June 1998

Resolution 1: Monitoring of Active Layer and Permafrost Thermal State

Recognizing the increasing concern of the World Climate Research Program and GCOS/GTOS Terrestrial Observing Panel for Climate (TOPC) to identify functional networks for permafrost monitoring (GCOS Report No. 32, 1997: GCOS/GTOS Plan for Terrestrial Climate-related Observations, pp.19-20, 76-77), the International Permafrost Association resolves:

• to undertake coordination and collection of annual active layer depth and permafrost temperatures; and
• to ensure their timely reporting on the IPA Web site and the annual transfer of these data to WDC-A for Glaciology.

Furthermore, through the IPA Executive Committee, the IPA and its relevant Working Groups will address the following issues:

• assigning CALM, PACE and other representative monitoring sites to the GCOS/GTOS tier structure;
• assessing the representation of various permafrost climatic regimes in the network and identify any gaps in coverage;
• evaluating options for filling any gaps in the network;
• formalizing organizational arrangements within the IPA/CALM structure; and
• finalizing the strategy and guideline documents to enable the preparation of invitation letters to the World Meteorological Organization representatives of the participating countries.

Resolution 2: Monitoring of Antarctic Permafrost and Research

Recognizing that the Antarctic continent serves as a rich archive and laboratory for paleoenvironmental information and present-day environmental process; the fact that there is no systematic program for monitoring recent changes in the thermal history of the permafrost or active layer properties in the ice-free areas; and the growing requirements to coordinate with similar monitoring programs in the Northern Hemisphere and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere (Resolution 1), the International Permafrost Association resolves:

• to encourage the establishment of a circum-Antarctic Permafrost Monitoring Network and related periglacial research activities and furthermore recommends:
• that the newly formed IPA Working Group on Southern Hemisphere Permafrost serve as the formal link with SCAR.