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Updated: Fri 01 Jul 2005

At XXVIII SCAR the Permafrost Action Group was disbanded.

It was then reformed as the Expert Group on Permafrost and Periglacial Environments.

A brief amount of information on this is now located at: www.geoscience.scar.org/expertgroups/permafrost/

or

...alternatively you can visit the Antarctic Permafrost and Soils (ANTPAS) site - which contains information on members, meetings, links to related sites, and you can join up on their mailing list.

The old Action Group workplan is retained below for historical purposes only

Coordinator: Wayne Pollard (McGill University, Canada),

Members: Ross Powell (Northern Illinois University, USA), Jan Boelhouwers (Uppsala University, Sweden) IPA, Warren Dickinson (Victoria University, New Zealand), Junko Mori, (Hokkaido University, Japan), Enrique Serrano, (Universidad de Valladolid, Spain), Ron Sletten, (University of Washington, USA)

Background:

• Permafrost (ground that remains below 0ºC for a minimum of 2 years) underlies approximately 25% of the Earth’s land surface, including the Arctic and Antarctic. Permafrost and periglacial processes play an important role in the evolution of Antarctic landscapes not covered by glacier ice. Some aspects of Antarctic permafrost are potentially different from its Arctic counterpart, including its age, the nature and age of ground ice, active layer processes, etc.  However, permafrost research in Antarctica has been uncoordinated and lacking focus, and in many cases has been undertaken as a component of other research activities.

• has proposed to become “the relevant body advancing permafrost science in the Antarctic region”. In 1998 the IPA created a working group to address questions about permafrost and periglacial processes in the southern hemisphere (IPA Southern Hemisphere Working Group) and in 2003 reconstituted it as the Working Group on Permafrost and Periglacial Processes in Antarctica.  

• There is a need to link permafrost research with other scientific activities on Antarctic geology, climate change and environmental management. 

• In response to these issues the Geoscience Standing Scientific Group (GSSG) established the Permafrost Action Group (PAG).

Aims:

1. To assess (review) the state of permafrost science in Antarctica.

2. To identify gaps and priorities in Antarctic permafrost science.

3. To establish links with the broader permafrost community (particularly the International Permafrost Association) and put Antarctic permafrost into a global context.

Workplan

1. To constitute a small group of permafrost specialists including GSSG members (W. Pollard and R. Powell), an IPA representative (J. Boelhouwers), plus other members of the Antarctic permafrost research community

2. To liase with the IPA Southern Hemisphere Working Group (SHWG) including participation in the 8^th International Permafrost Conference in Zurich and the IPA SHWG workshop on Antarctic Permafrost Issues

3. Organisational meeting of the Permafrost Action Group at the 9^th ISAES in Potsdam

4. Establish contact with permafrost representative from SCAR countries

5. Create a directory of Antarctic permafrost researchers

6. To prepare an action paper identifying Antarctic permafrost issues to be delivered at SCAR 2004 in Bremen

7. Organise a permafrost workshop or session on Antarctic permafrost in association with SCAR 2004 in Bremen