Description: About 50 locations ('cold spots') where permafrost (Arctic and Antarctic) in situ monitoring has been taking place for many years or where field stations are currently established (through, for example the Canadian ADAPT program) have been identified. These sites have been proposed to WMO Polar Space Task Group as focus areas for future monitoring by satellite data. Seven monitoring transects spanning different permafrost types have been proposed in addition.

Description: Permafrost is a direct indicator of climate change and permafrost temperature and active-layer thickness have been identified as Essential Climate Variables (ECV) by the global observing community. The existing data, however, were far from being homogeneous and were not yet optimized for databases, without framework for data reporting or archival and the data documentation was incomplete. Within the EU FP7 project PAGE 21, Arctic Portal has developed a central Data Management System (DMS) for permafrost monitoring parameters of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) and others. Each component of the DMS, including parameters, data levels and metadata formats were developed in cooperation with the GTN-P, the International Permafrost Association (IPA) and Arctic Portal. The researcher can now edit, visualize and download standardized datasets, metadata, charts and statistics of all relevant parameters for a specific site in all partner countries. The GTN-P DMS is based on an object oriented model (OOM) following the framework Model/View/Controller (MVC) of Cakephp. It is implemented with open source technologies with the PostGIS database and Geoserver. To ensure interoperability and enable potential inter-database search, the system follows the evolution of the Semantic Web (Linking Geospatial Data); the database structure and content are mapped towards xml, xslt, rdf, and owl. Moreover, metadata comply with the ISO 19115/2 and ISO TC/211 standards for geospatial information. Datasets are then normalized based on a control vocabulary registry. Tools are further developed to provide data processing, analysis capability and quality control. The end of the distribution chain deliver highly structured datasets towards modelers in NetCDF files, format developed by UNIDATA. The elaboration of this project highlights the absence of standardized data model for scientific relational databases as well as a lack of ontology definition and mapping within and between scientific communities.

Description: Permafrost warming has the potential to amplify global climate change, because when frozen sediments thaw it unlocks soil organic carbon. Yet to date, no globally consistent assessment of permafrost temperature change has been compiled. Here we use a global data set of permafrost temperature time series from the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost to evaluate temperature change across permafrost regions for the period since the International Polar Year (2007–2009). During the reference decade between 2007 and 2016, ground temperature near the depth of zero annual amplitude in the continuous permafrost zone increased by 0.39 ± 0.15 °C. Over the same period, discontinuous permafrost warmed by 0.20 ± 0.10 °C. Permafrost in mountains warmed by 0.19 ± 0.05 °C and in Antarctica by 0.37 ± 0.10 °C. Globally, permafrost temperature increased by 0.29 ± 0.12 °C. The observed trend follows the Arctic amplification of air temperature increase in the Northern Hemisphere. In the discontinuous zone, however, ground warming occurred due to increased snow thickness while air temperature remained statistically unchanged.

Description: The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) provides the first dynamic database associated with the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) and the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) programs, which extensively collect permafrost temperature and active layer thickness (ALT) data from Arctic, Antarctic and mountain permafrost regions. The purpose of GTN-P is to establish an early warning system for the consequences of climate change in permafrost regions and to provide standardized thermal permafrost data to global models. In this paper we introduce the GTN-P database and perform statistical analysis of the GTN-P metadata to identify and quantify the spatial gaps in the site distribution in relation to climate-effective environmental parameters. We describe the concept and structure of the data management system in regard to user operability, data transfer and data policy. We outline data sources and data processing including quality control strategies based on national correspondents. Assessment of the metadata and data quality reveals 63 % metadata completeness at active layer sites and 50 % metadata completeness for boreholes. Voronoi tessellation analysis on the spatial sample distribution of boreholes and active layer measurement sites quantifies the distribution inhomogeneity and provides a potential method to locate additional permafrost research sites by improving the representativeness of thermal monitoring across areas underlain by permafrost. The depth distribution of the boreholes reveals that 73 % are shallower than 25 m and 27 % are deeper, reaching a maximum of 1 km depth. Comparison of the GTN-P site distribution with permafrost zones, soil organic carbon contents and vegetation types exhibits different local to regional monitoring situations, which are illustrated with maps. Preferential slope orientation at the sites most likely causes a bias in the temperature monitoring and should be taken into account when using the data for global models. The distribution of GTN-P sites within zones of projected temperature change show a high representation of areas with smaller expected temperature rise but a lower number of sites within Arctic areas where climate models project extreme temperature increase. GTN-P metadata used in this paper are available at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.842821.

Description: The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P, gtnp.org) established the new ‘dynamic’ GTN-P Database (gtnpdatabase.org), which targets the Essential Climate Variable (ECV) permafrost, described by the thermal state of permafrost (TSP) and active layer thickness (ALT). This paper outlines the requirements for assessing the GTN-P data quality. Our aim is to conceive and discuss useful data quality indices as a basis for the 2nd official GTN-P National Correspondents Meeting in Quebec, September 2015. We describe the TSP and ALT data structures and the importance of precise metadata for the reliability of sound statements on the state and changes of permafrost. We define the most critical parameters related to quality assessment of TSP (borehole depth, number of sensors per depth, recording interval, sensor calibration) and ALT (grid structure, null values and exceeded maximum values, time consistency). We conceive and discuss a set of potential (to be reviewed at the GTN-P meeting) data quality indices by distinguishing between different borehole depths and spatial and temporal data dimensions of TSP and ALT datasets.

Description: This session is intended for very early scientists dealing with large amounts of data for the first time, as well as for young scientists at more advanced stages of their career (e.g. PhD / Postdocs) who have already been confronted with data sharing for larger projects and collaborations. After a general introduced on the topic “Collecting, Archiving and Sharing Data”, Boris Biskaborn (AWI) will give a talk about the the GTN-P database and it's current challenges. Jean-Pierre Lanckmann (Arctic Portal), will thereafter present the necessity of data compatibility and the potentials of international standards for the purpose of data sharing.These relatively short talks will be followed by a 30 minutes interactive discussion, including topics such as: How to set up a database. How to decide if my project would benefit or suffer from setting up a database. Scripting for documentation.

Description: The Data Management System (DMS) of the Page21 EU project operates towards providing a web-based resource for the essential climate variables (ECV) permafrost of the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P), aiming to enable the assessment of the relation between ground temperature, gas fluxes and the Earth’s climate system. The database contains time series for borehole temperatures and grids of active layer thickness (TSP, CALM) plus air and surface temperature and moisture (DUE Permafrost, MODIS) measured in the terrestrial Panarctic, Antarctic and Mountainous realms. This DMS will provide, for the first time, a dynamic and comprehensive database for permafrost monitoring parameters where permafrost researchers and other stakeholders will be able to download data and detailed metadata for a specific site or region following international standards for geospatial metadata ISO 19115/2 and TC/221. As an open-source spatio-temporal database it is implemented with PostGIS, the spatial version of PostgreSQL, following the object-oriented logic. Carefully designed user interfaces, tutorials, templates, and the nomination of National Correspondents (NCs) provide the tools to facilitate the smooth input and extraction of data. Ad hoc visualizations of different automatically calculated statistics of the uploaded data will guide the user to an optimal data overview. The output is provided in most of the popular formats including csv, xml, NetCDF, kml, and shapefiles. This data management product will outlive the PAGE21 project and is therefore being conceived in collaboration within international networks for permafrost research (GTN-P, IPA).