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PermaNET • Permafrost long-term monitoring network
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An inventory of Permafrost Evidence for the European Alps
E. Cremonese [1], S. Gruber [2], M. Phillips [3], P. Pogliotti (¹), L. Boeckli [2] and J. Noetzli [2]
[1] Environmental Protection Agency of Aosta Valley, ARPA Valle d'Aosta, Italy - [2] Glaciology, Geomorphodynamics and Geochronology, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland - [3] WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Switzerland
The investigation and modelling of permafrost distribution, particularly in areas of discontinuous permafrost, is challenging due to spatial heterogeneity, remoteness of measurement sites and
data scarcity. In the framework of the PemaNET project, we have designed a strategy for standardizing different local data sets containing evidence of the presence or absence of permafrost
into an inventory for the entire European Alps.
We define a permafrost evidence to be a point or an area where permafrost is known to be present during a certain time or where the absence of permafrost can be ascertained.
Permafrost experts from numerous European Alpine countries (35 institutions) have contributed to the inventory which combines results obtained by many researchers and data assembled by
national or regional monitoring programmes such as PERMOS (CH), PermaFRANCE (FR) or PROALP (IT).
Structure of the inventory
The inventory contains the following types of evidence: borehole temperature (BH), ground surface temperature
(GST), rock fall scar (SC), trench or construction site (TR), surface movement (SM), geophysical prospecting
(GP), other indirect evidence (OIE) and rock glaciers (RG). SC and TR are considered to be evidence of
permafrost only if ice has been seen and can be excluded to be seasonal.
For all types of evidence, general information (e.g. metadata) are required; additionally, optional fields available
for comments and further specification are available. BH, GST and SM have specific data fields containing
synthetic data such as mean active layer depth, MAGST, ... RG inventory is managed separately from the
point types of evidence: individual RG inventories are supplied as a collection of polygons and/or centroids
(shapefiles).
2
GP 20%
BH
3
1
Permafrost Evidences Inventory
Rock Glacier Inventory
GST 35%
BH 16%
TR 12%
SM 1%
SC 9%
OIE 8%
100
percentage
75
50
50
25
25
0
Evidence distribution
GP
GST
SC ■ TR
■ OIE
■ SM
A
CH D F
|
countries
Elevation [m asl]
3000
3500
4000
1000
1500
2000
2500
BH
GP
GST ΟΙΕ
SC
SM
TR
GST, BH and GP are the most common types of point evidence. Most of the points
are located in Switzerland, France and Italy 2. The elevation of the permafrost
evidence ranges from 1000 m a.s.l. in a cold talus slope in central Austria
(Toteisboden) to 4120m a.s.l. for a GST point in the Mont Blanc Massif (Grandes
Jorasses); however, the majority (>60%) is situated between 2500 and 3000 m a.s.l
3 Most of the points have slope angles in the range 10-45°. GST and SC also
exist in near-vertical conditions and even some BH (Zugspitze (D), Aiguille du Midi
(F), Gemsstock (CH), Grawand (IT)) are located in steep rock faces. GP, TR and SM
mostly occur on gently inclined slopes.
Content of the inventory
The total number of point type permafrost evidence is 408 (October 2010),
extending from 44.29 to 47.47° N and from 5.91 to 14.88° E and covering all
Alpine countries except Monaco, Liechtenstein and Slovenia. The rock glacier
dataset includes seven inventories from Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France
with a total of 4795 rock glaciers 1. The seven inventories are regional (Valle
d'Aosta, Piemonte, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy, Massif du Combeynot
in France, Ticino in Switzerland and central and eastern Austria) and thus do
not cover the entire European Alps.
4
Active Layer Depth [m]
8
10
9
4
n=30
9
00
Temperature [°C]
-4
-2
0
2
4
n=32
n=112
Data access and upload
The October 2010 version of the inventory will be soon available
digitally at www.geo.uzh.ch/microsite/cryodata/, and trough the
PermaNET website. A compressed version of the inventory can
be downloaded containing point types of evidence in ASCII
format. A web database is under development and will be used for
maintenance and future implementation of the inventory.
2
0
BH
9-
-8
BH
GST
MAGT min MAGST
Boreholes and GST data
as
mean
The depth of BH ranges from 5 to
133 m with a mean of 33 m. For
each BH, active layer depth as well
annual ground
temperature (MAGT min) of the
coldest sensor is reported as the
mean of all available measurement
years 4. As BH have variable
depths, the MAGT of the coldest
sensor is used as an indication for
permafrost conditions.
GST is mostly measured at a depth of around 10 cm (55%), with some
measurements being shallower (25% at 0-2 cm) and others deeper
(20% at 15-55 cm). GST is reported as the mean of all full measurement
years with durations ranging from 3 to 5 years.
This inventory complements monitoring programmes by providing a solid basis to advance the understanding of the spatial distribution
of permafrost and its evolution in heterogeneous mountain environments. While the homogenized contents and public availability of the
inventory increase the value of the data contained, the synopsis of data over a larger region additionally enables analyses that were
previously not possible, as larger environmental gradients are covered and more data points available.
European Geosciences Union - GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2011 - VIENNA AUSTRIA, 3-8 April 2011
THIS PROJECT IS CO-FUNDED BY THE
EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND
investing in your future
This ongoing study is carried out within the project
PermaNĚT funded by the Alpine Space program. For more
information please visit www.permanet-alpinespace.eu.
Do you want to add your brand new permafrost evidence?
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