CALM Program Description
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CALM Program Description |
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The active layer is the zone above permafrost that experiences seasonal freezing
and thawing. General circulation models indicate that climate warming will be amplified at
high latitudes, and this would likely increase the thickness of the active layer and/or
result in ground subsidence. As the annual thaw depth increases, the carbon and water
currently sequestered in the permafrost reservoir would be released. A net increase in the
efflux of CO2 and H2O to the atmosphere would provide a positive
feedback effect on global or regional warming. It is therefore necessary to monitor and
model interannual, decadal, and secular variations in the active layer on a hemispheric
scale so as to understand the roles of cold soils in global change. Forecasting and
observing changes in the active layer and upper permafrost have applications to
technogenic landscape processes, related infrastructure, and human activities. To achieve these goals, the CALM (Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring) program has been established. It currently consists of 69 research sites operated by researchers from from Canada, China, Denmark/ Greenland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Norway, Poland/Svalbard, Russia, Sweden/Svalbard, Switzerland, and United States. Although the CALM program began as a voluntary effort in 1991, it has recently been formalized with a 5-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (OPP-9732051). Investigators at these sites measure the seasonal thaw depth across plots using a standard protocol. Soil and air temperature, and soil moisture content, are also measured at many sites. If these areally averaged measurements are combined with site-specific information on soil, landscape, vegetation, and measurements of air and soil temperature, the stability and projected changes in regional thaw depth and the spatial patterns can be more realistically modeled and validated. The University of Cincinnati administers the CALM grant. Participants collect the necessary temperature and thaw depth measurements and provide them to the CALM program at the University of Cincinnati, where they incorporated into several databases including the IPA Global Geocryological Database (GGD). CALM is now part the Global Terrestrial Network-Permafrost (GTN-P) of the World Meteorological Organization Global Climate Observatory System (GCOS). Analysis, archiving, and distribution of these long-term observations are an integral components of the project. Analysis of the data will be performed by the investigators and others. The results will be presented at national and international meetings, and jointly published in international scientific journals FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT |
