Thermal State of Permafrost: The US Contribution to the International Permafrost Observatory Network

This proposal will formally link approximately 66 Alaskan boreholes with similar sets of observations in other countries, and in so doing will formally initiate the International Network of Permafrost Observatories (INPO). This work will coordinate data collection using standard equipment and protocols at the Alaskan borehole sites and at a selected and comparable number of Russian borehole sites. The Alaskan and Russian borehole temperature data sets will provide the baseline to reconstruct past surface temperatures, to assess the future rates of change in near-surface permafrost temperatures and permafrost boundaries, and to provide spatial data for validation of climate scenario models and temperature reanalysis approaches. This proposal provides the US contribution to the proposed International Polar Year Thermal State of Permafrost (IPY/TSP) project that proposes to measure temperatures in a large number of globally distributed boreholes in order to provide a "snapshot" of permafrost temperatures in both time and space.