News from Germany 2004

Germany
Report for IPA Newsletter “Frozen Ground” No. 28,
(12-2004, distributed 03-2005)

The IPA Newsletter “Frozen Ground” is distributed without charge to members of the German National Permafrost Committee. Currently, 85 names are on its distribution list.
Interested Scientist with domicile at a German scientific institution may receive Frozen Ground free of charge by writing to the Chairman of the DNP/IPA.
IPA conferences: The 2nd European Conference on Permafrost (EUCOP II) will be held from June 12 to 16, 2005, in Potsdam, Germany, organized by the AWI and the ESF PACE 21 project. The scientific steering committee is chaired by Charles Harris and the local organizing committee by Hans-W. Hubberten. Permafrost scientists from Europe and the worldwide community are invited to the conference to present and discuss results in the wide field of permafrost research and engineering.  The deadline for submission of abstracts was December 31, 2004.

Permafrost related activities at German research institutions and universities:
Multidisciplinary studies were organized by the Potsdam Research Unit of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI-Potsdam) at the coastal region of Cape Mamontov Klyk (Western Laptev Sea) in summer 2003 (L. Schirrmeister, M. Grigoriev). Main objective of the new joint Russian-German project “Process studies of permafrost dynamics in the Laptev Sea” are transition processes from terrestrial to submarine permafrost. A joint Russian/German expedition was focused on geocryological and sedimentological investigations, periglacial morphology, paleosols, modern periglacial surface conditions, coastal dynamics, and hydrological and paleontological studies. The studies were carried out concerning paleoenvironmental reconstruction, interpretation of remote sensing data, methane budget calculations and permafrost transformation.Major emphasis of the 7th expedition to the Lena River Delta (May – July 2004, D. Wagner) was put on trace gas flux measurements and the microbial community involved in the carbon turnover during the thawing of the active layer. Micrometeorological eddy covariance measurements providing turbulent flux data (heat, water, CO2, and CH4) in the atmospheric boundary layer were carried out for the spring-summer period.

A project investigating the late Quaternary environment and palaeoclimate in central Yakutia is currently in progress by the AWI (B. Diekmann) and the University Aachen (F. Lehmkuhl) with partners from the Permafrost Institute Yakutsk (V.V. Kunitzki, V. Spector) and the Yakutsk State University (L. Pestryakova, A. Prokopiev). Field work in 2002 and 2003 in the Verkhoyansk Mountains and 2004 in the alass region northeast of Yakutsk concerned the development of periglacial and glacial landscapes, lacustrine systems, as well as permafrost complexes and ground ice features. During the summers 2003 and 2004 joint expeditions of paleolimnologists of AWI (T. Kumke) and Yakutsk State University (L. Pestryakova) investigated 47 lakes in the Central Yakutian lowlands. One of the major aims of the fieldwork was to establish a calibration dataset for diatoms and chironomids to carry out quantitative reconstructions of the paleoenvironments in Yakutia.

Three scientists from the AWI-Potsdam (H. Meyer) studied two permafrost tunnels in Fairbanks and Barrow by invitation of J. Brown and with support of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (K. Yoshikawa) in spring 2003. The aim was to use the experiences of complex studies of Late Quaternary permafrost deposits in Siberia to study permafrost sequences from Alaska. Especially the stable isotope analysis of ice wedges was of central interest. Hydrological studies were carried out through an ongoing cooperation between the Water and Environmental Research Center (UAF, L. Hinzman) and AWI (J. Boike) on the North Slope of Alaska during the summer. A number of field measurements were made to support the modelling of small-scale hydrological processes.

The Institute for Geography at the Giessen University (L. King) continues ground temperature monitoring in the periglacial belt of the Matter Valley, Swiss Alps. Shallow ground temperature measurements in two test areas since 2002 indicate, that discontinuous permafrost occurrences match with coarse textured surfaces and that the influence of coarse cover layers on the ground thermal regime even exceeds that of snow cover depth and duration (S. Philippi, T. Herz). 65 temperature sensors have been installed at the Stockhorn Plateau in depths between 0 and 100 cm near the existing PACE borehole sites in summer 2004. The measurements will demonstrate the influence of topographical effects on the ground thermal regime.

Investigations on permafrost thermal regime and geotechnical stability at the Zugspitze are continued by M. Gude (University of Jena). In cooperation with the local cable-car company, permafrost in foundations is observed and mitigation measures are evaluated. Within the interdisciplinary research programme SCREECOS (Scree Ecosystems) Analysis of low altitude sporadic permafrost conditions in numerous highland scree slopes in Germany, Czech Republic and France are prolonged. In the EU-project SIBERIA II modelling the influence of permafrost on biomass budget and productivity in Siberian boreal forests is undertaken as contribution to a global carbon budget model (C. Schmullius, Jena).

At the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, University of Karlsruhe, theoretical and applied permafrost research is conducted by using geophysical methods for detecting, characterising and monitoring of frozen ground. A physically based approach has been developed to calculate the ground ice content from seismic and geoelectric data sets (C. Hauck). Geophysical permafrost monitoring has been continued at Schilthorn, Swiss Alps, in collaboration with the University of Zurich (I. Völksch, M. Scherler, M. Hoelzle, C. Hauck). The focus is on the determination of the spatial variability of energy exchange processes between the atmosphere and the permafrost layer on a scale of 1-100 m. In collaboration with the University of Freiburg a permafrost distribution map of the German Alps was developed giving a rough estimate of the probable and possible permafrost distribution (S. Blasius, C. Hauck, C. Schneider).

At the University of Marburg, Department of Geography, H. Brückner and G. Schellmann are working on beach ridges in Andréeland, Spitsbergen (Svalbard). On the basis of the observed sequences they propose a scenario for late Pleistocene and Holocene landscape evolution.

At the Department of Physical Geography, University of Regensburg, H. Strunk continues his research in the Ob region in western Siberia, together with L. Agafonov, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg. The topic of research is the reconstruction of the thermokarst history of the last 500 years (M. Krabisch). The study is based on dendrochronological analysis of living trees (Pinus sibirica).

The Department of Physical Geography, University of Würzburg (C. Kneisel) assesses geoelectrical monitoring changes of active layer and permafrost thicknesses under different surface conditions in a discontinuous permafrost environment in the Swiss Alps. In collaboration with A. Kääb (Zurich) permafrost creep within the Muragl glacier forefield is evaluated using a combined geomorphological, geophysical and photogrammetrical approach. Additionally geophysical and geomorphological permafrost investigations have been started in a subarctic alpine environment in Northern Sweden.

The INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL UNION has established a new commission on Cold Region Environments, chaired by M. Gude (Jena). It will also focus on permafrost in close cooperation with the planned IPA working group on Periglacial Processes and Climate (cf. separate chapter in FROZEN GROUND, number 28).
Compiled by lorenz.king@geogr.uni-giessen.de