10:55 a.m., Dec. 10, 2002--An international gathering of 35 scientists from six nations with interest in Arctic research met in mid-November at the Virden Center on the University of Delaware’s Lewes campus.
The scientists gathered for the first Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) workshop, which was sponsored by the University of Delaware Permafrost Group in the Department of Geography.
The workshop was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation's Arctic System Science program through a grant to UD researchers Frederick E. Nelson and Nikolay I. Shiklomanov.
The CALM program administers an international monitoring effort concerned with measuring the physical characteristics of and changes in the Arctic’s active layer, the near-surface layer of earth that undergoes annual freezing and thawing in permafrost environments.
The active layer is of critical importance for both natural ecosystems and human occupation in cold regions because it determines the rooting depth of plants, most hydrological activity occurs within it and its thickness and mechanical properties affect buildings and other engineered works, Nelson said.
If the active layer thickens as a result of climate change, significant quantities of greenhouse gases could be released from the underlying layer of thawing permafrost and amplify global warming, he said.
In addition, human-induced changes to the active layer can cause hydrological disruptions and instability of structures built on the surface.
The CALM program currently administers about 110 sites distributed about the polar regions and mid-latitude mountains. Air and ground temperature, the thickness of the active layer, soil moisture and annual changes in surface elevation are monitored at the sites, although all variables are not measured at all sites.
Sites are currently operated in Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, Svalbard, Norway, Sweden, Central Asia and Antarctica. Researchers from 11 countries participate in the program.
Many of the field sites are extremely remote and require access by riverboat, helicopter or float plane, Nelson said.
The program is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is headquartered at the University of Cincinnati under the direction of Ken Hinkel. UD's Nelson is a co-principal investigator on the NSF grant.
CALM is allied closely with the International Permafrost Association (IPA) and the IPA Working Group on Permafrost and Global Change, chaired by Nelson and Oleg Anisimov of St. Petersburg, Russia. Anisimov holds a courtesy appointment in UD and spends one to three months here each fall.
The workshop at the Virden Center was held to take stock of accomplishments over CALM's first decade. The program consisted of a series of oral reports on results from various sites, development of data-analysis procedures, planning for the program's next five years and forging formal alliances with other polar and climate-change research organizations. A short proceedings volume will be published in early January 2003, and an edited volume of papers from the workshop, to be published in the journal Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, is currently in progress.
Distinguished climatologist Roger G. Barry of the University of Colorado delivered a banquet address.
Joan Hahn, Anna Klene and Jon Little of the UD Department of Geography, and the staff of the Virden Center, provided critical logistical work.
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