Diário de campanha 2011-12
Equipa PERMANTAR-2 ilha Deception
Equipa PERMANTAR-2 ilha Livingston
Equipa PERMANTAR-2 Palmer
Diário de campanha 2010-11
Equipa PERMANTAR-2
Equipa PERMANTAR-2 ilha Deception
Equipa PERMANTAR-2 ilha Livingston
Equipa PERMANTAR-2 Palmer
Diário de campanha 2010-11
Equipa PERMANTAR-2
PERMANTAR-2. Permafrost and Climate Change in the Maritime Antarctic
Funding organization:
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | PTDC/AAC-CLI/098885/2008
Period: 1 March 2010 - 30 July 2012
Host Institution
Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território
Participating Institutions
Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Centro de Geofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Centro de Geofísica de Évora, Portugal
Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria
Departamento de Física, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brasil
University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Principal Investigator: Gonçalo Vieira
Team members: Alberto Caselli, Alexandre Trindade, Alice Ferreira, António Correia, António Soares, Carla Mora, Carlos Schaefer, Christo Pimpirev, Felipe Simas, Fernando Santos, Ivo Bernardo, James Bockheim, Jean-Michel Maillol, Mário Neves, Miguel Ramos, Rositza Kenderova, Vanessa Batista.
Abstract
Permafrost influence on climate has been largely neglected in the past, but research in the last decade emphasized its major significance as a component of cryosphere. In the recent climate change assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and United Nations Environment Programme, present-day and future responses of permafrost terrain to climate have already been included. There is a widespread trend towards warming of permafrost on Earth, with significant influences on the climate system (carbon fluxes), terrain stability, ecology and hydrology. Permafrost research as a long tradition in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the circum-arctic region and there are hundreds of boreholes and active layer monitoring sites focusing on the evolution of the thermal state of permafrost. However, Antarctic permafrost is still poorly characterized and the borehole and active layer monitoring network is very scarce. The International Permafrost Association (IPA) maintains the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P), as well as the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring Network (CALM). These networks input data into the Global Geocryological Database which is used by the science community with needs of observational data on the thermal status of permafrost. During the International Polar Year, the IPA conducted a significant effort in developing the permafrost and active layer monitoring networks in the Antarctic and coordinated two IPY core projects: The Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) and Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, Soils and Periglacial Environments (ANTPAS). Portugal participated in these projects with PERMANTAR - Permafrost and climate change in the Maritime Antarctic, funded by the FCT and coordinated by the CEG/FL/UL that also coordinates the present proposal.
The main objective of PERMANTAR is to bridge the gap in monitoring through permafrost boreholes and CALM-S sites of the Antarctic Peninsula region, with a focus in Livingston and Deception Islands. Together with this objective, improving knowledge on permafrost distribution and characteristics in the South Shetlands, with a modeling component, and also the implementation of sites for monitoring the periglacial geomorphodynamics in relation to climate change were important goals. While this proposal is being written, PERMANTAR is on its first year and the first Antarctic campaign was successfully conducted with the installation of: a) new permafrost boreholes in Livingston and Deception Islands, b) new CALM-S sites, c) upgrading of existing sites, d) electrical resistivity tomography surveying, e) a new meteorological station and f) several sites for monitoring geomorphic dynamics related to permafrost.
PERMANTAR-2 is the continuation of PERMANTAR and should start after its end, in April 2010. It focuses on continuing the monitoring program initiated in the previous project, but also includes a significant upgrading of the monitoring sites allowing for a better characterization of permafrost and active layer dynamics. It also includes spatial modeling and mapping of permafrost, now with a larger data set and also a strong initiative on snow cover monitoring using field data, as well as SAR and ASAR satellite imagery. Furthermore, following the IPA guidelines for the implementation of a permafrost monitoring transect along the Antarctic Peninsula, a new site will be implemented in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Anvers Island (US Palmer station) constituting an important node in the GTN-P. PERMANTAR-2 will strengthen the position of the team as a leading group on Antarctic permafrost research and will provide a new legacy of permafrost monitoring sites, including innovative sites for long-term monitoring of geomorphodynamics and landscape change (CALM-S).
The team of the CEG/FL/UL conducts research on Antarctic permafrost since 2000 and has a large international experience, both in research and in logistic planning of the campaigns. The CGUL/FFC/UL collaborates with the CEG/FL/UL team since 2007 on the application of geophysical techniques focusing on studying volcano-permafrost interactions in Deception Island. The CGE/UE also collaborates since 2007 and already participated in one field campaign, focusing on geophysics of permafrost terrains in metasedimentary periglacial environments (Livingston Island). The project includes also 4 foreign institutions that collaborate with own funding. The UBA has almost two decades of experience on the geology and geomorphology of Deception Island. The BAI coordinates Bulgarian Antarctic research and the members are experts on the geology and geomorphology of Livingston Islands. The UAH is the Spanish team with a longest tradition on permafrost research, having been involved in Antarctic campaigns since 1988. The UW-M brings into the project an high expertise on Antarctic soils and permafrost.
