Denmark 2006

As part of the Zackenberg Basic monitoring programme in Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland , the geographical and the climatic programmes, GeoBasis and ClimateBasis collect data of climatic, hydrological and terrestrial variables describing the dynamics of the physical and geomorphological environment in this high Arctic location. GeoBasis is operated by the National Environmental Research Institute in co-operation with the Department of Geography, University of Copenhagen . ClimateBasis is operated by ASIAQ – Greenland Survey. Monitoring data are summarised in the ZERO Annual Reports published by the Danish Polar Centre, and can be downloaded from the homepage <http://www.zackenberg.dk/Data>. A synthesis of the data from the first ten-year period is being prepared for publication in 2007.

The Arctic Technology Centre (Sanaartornermik Iliniarfik in Sisimiut, Greenland / Dep. of Civil Engineering at the Technical Univ. of Denmark) continued its studies of permafrost related to roads and infrastructure in the discontinuous to continuous permafrost regions between Sisimiut and Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord). Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen continued his research project on “Geophysical techniques applied to permafrost investigations in Greenland ” (Ph.D. Dissertation, December 2005, DTU). This research focuses on mapping ice-bonded permafrost with electrical methods in Sisimiut, and it was presented at EAGE Near Surface 2006, in Helsinki . Ph.D student at ARTEK, Anders Stuhr Jørgensen studies georadar methods related to infrastructure and worked with Frank Andreasen (Danish Geoservice) on “Mapping of the permafrost surface using ground-penetrating radar at Kangarlussuaq Airport , western Greenland ”. Jeanette Birkholm and Inooraq Brandt studied permafrost foundations in Thule supervised by Niels Foged and in cooperation with Greenland Contractors and ASIAQ. Geotechnical and georadar investigations elucidate geothermal reasons for differential settlements of 75 to 150 cm of a vehicle maintenance facility and hangars due to malfunctioning cooling ducts, and maintenance and repair recommendations are covered by their thesis which will be published in 2007.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (Vladimir Romanovsky), the Danish Meteorological Institute (Jens H. Christensen), ASIAQ (the Greenland Survey, Keld H. Svendsen) and ARTEK (the Arctic Technology Centre / BYG-DTU, Niels Foged) have received US National Science Foundation funding for the Project "Recent and future permafrost variability, retreat and degradation in Greenland and Alaska: an integrated approach". The project is part of the IPY Project 50 “Thermal State of Permafrost”, and also connected to Danish IPY project proposals. The three year project started August 1, 2006 . Its objective is to bridge the gap between climate, climate change modelling and permafrost science at the regional scale for the Western Greenland and Alaska regions, which are quite different. The research addresses high-resolution simulation of climate in the permafrost study regions for the present and until 2050. A series of climate and permafrost monitoring sites are under development. Permafrost modelling will be calibrated against field measurements, and will be driven by the output of the regional climate models. This will be used for mapping permafrost conditions for the present and projections for the variability over the two areas. Eventually, documentation of likely changes through 2050, and construction of "risk maps" for the respective regions will be carried out together with recommendations concerning infrastructure and engineering. This project includes educational and outreach activities.

Since February 2006 Susanne Hanson (sha@spacecenter.dk) has been the national coordinator for the Permafrost Young Research Network (PYRN) in Denmark .

Niels Foged (nf@byg.dk)