Our five month expedition to arctic Alaska began today with our first stop at Kaktovik, Alaska. Kaktovik is a village of about 300 people, mostly native Alaskans, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. It’s actually located on an island, separated by a small strip of water from the mainland, but in winter it is all frozen so it is essentially connected. Turner “Is there enough room for me in the car?” No one had much sleep lately. ...

Return to Main Land and Life Page Background: Layers of perennially frozen ground known as permafrost exist under about 20% of the Earth’s surface. Permafrost occurs on land in both the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as beneath the ocean around the Arctic coast and in many high mountain areas. Seasonal thawing and freezing of the soil forms a shallow active layer that overlies the permafrost. In contrast, deep permafrost, frozen to depths of 500 to 1000 meters, may have existed in a frozen state for thousands of years. Frozen soils have greater mechanical stability than unfrozen soils. Permafrost degradation can cause problems for roads, pipelines ...

Karin Granqvist leads IPY Project 30, Representations of Sami in Nineteenth Century Polar Literature: The Arctic 'Other' My research scrutinizes how Sámi were represented in text and images in four natural scientists’ combined travel and scientific journals and letter correspondence during the nineteenth-century. They are Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851), Lars Levi Læstadius (1800-1861), Sven Lovén (1809-1895) and Axel Hamberg (1863-1933). They were all based in Sweden, but did field studies and field research trips in northern Finland, northern Norway and to Spitsbergen, besides Sweden. Their main research fields were within natural science and/or natural his...

The International Geophysical Year, IGY (1957-1958) has led to a comprehensive global study of geophysical phenomena and their relationships with solar activity. It aimed to make wide-spread, simultaneous, and intensive observations of a range of geophysical phenomena, using the latest instrumentation, rocket, and satellite technologies. The IGY greatly expanded our knowledge of global processes, heralded the exploration of geospace, and left a legacy of monumental achievements including the World Data Center (WDC) System. Fifty years on, four new international programs -- International Polar Year (IPY), electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE), and International Heliophysical Year (IHY) -- have been proposed and are in progress. Efforts f...

Return to Main Land and Life Page Background: Layers of perennially frozen ground known as permafrost exist under about 20% of the Earth’s surface. Permafrost occurs on land in both the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as beneath the ocean around the Arctic coast and in many high mountain areas. Seasonal thawing and freezing of the soil forms a shallow active layer that overlies the permafrost. In contrast, deep permafrost, frozen to depths of 500 to 1000 meters, may have existed in a frozen state for thousands of years. Frozen soils have greater mechanical stability than unfrozen soils. Permafrost degradation can cause problems for roads, pipelines ...

The Arctic Institute of North America has released an updated version a classic monograph that describes the expeditions of the First International Polar Year (IPY) of 1882-1883. The book by Institute research associate Bill Barr, The Expeditions of the First International Polar Year 1882-83, was first published in 1985 and focuses on the 14 expeditions that made up the first IPY. The book is available from the Arctic Institute for Cd$28.95 plus shipping and handling. To order a copy, fill out and mail or fax the order form to the Arctic Institute of North America. Order form link: http://www.arctic.ucalgary.ca...

A team of young investigators have started an international project to measure permafrost temperatures — with bore holes in Svalbard, northern Sweden, Norway and Finland. The increased interest in the potential impact of global warming on permafrost has prompted the International Permafrost Association (IPA) to launch an IPY project, Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP), which aims to create a globally consistent approach to monitoring permafrost. Young permafrost researchers, through the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) are contributing to the global TSP project with a new project termed PYRN-TSP. PYRN-TSP’s objective is to empow...

Return to Main Land and Life pages Several IPY projects study water within the Land system. Here are some examples profiling in the Antarctic: • Antarctic Peninsula • Dry Valleys in the Arctic: • Soil Moisture • Arctic Char ____ Hydrology in the Antarctic Peninsula ...

There are many IPY projects studying Polar Flora, Fauna, and Ecology and several of these projects also are members of other collectives focussing on the Arctic and Antarctic. For more information, please see: Conservation for Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA) Examples of some of these project areas are described below in the following topics: Arctic Adaptations Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic Soil Ecosystems in the Antarctic Dry Valleys Springtails Nemetodes...

Return to Main Land and Life page Many thanks to Jerry Brown for text, images, and enthusiasm. Further permafrost resources can be found at the end of this page. The following text and selected figures are based mainly on excerpts from a chapter entitled Permafrost and Periglacial Environments by J. Alan Heginbottom (Canada), Jerry Brown (USA), Ole Humlum (Norway) and Harald Svensson (Denmark). It is scheduled for publication later in 2008 in the U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386-...