The Permafrost Thaw Action Group was part of the Terrestrial Multidisciplinary distributed Observatories for the Study of Arctic Connections (T-MOSAiC). Together with MOSAiC, T-MOSAiC was a program of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC).
The T-MOSAiC Permafrost Thaw Action Group has developed a user-friendly, multi-parameter sampling protocol. The protocol provides a guideline for the standardized collection of field data for quantifying permafrost thaw. It addresses the need for integrated observations of multiple connected components of permafrost landscapes, including soils, snow, and vegetation.
Illustration of the standarized permafrost monitoring protocol. The five spheres (snow, water, permafrost, vegetation and soil) with the associated parameters, measurement modes, and observation timings along one transect over one seasonal cycle.
Our protocol addresses the need for consistent collection and integration of data from across the permafrost region to:
(i) better monitor and understand permafrost thaw;
(ii) establish a baseline against which future change can be measured; and
(iii) support the integration of field measurements within pan-Arctic geospatial datasets developed through remote sensing analyses or modelling.
The simple protocol and an associated mobile app myThaw enable a wide range of non-expert users to make high-quality, standardized and accessible measurements. You can join our data collection campaign if you live in or visit any permafrost region by using our myThaw app.
Permafrost Thaw Action Group focuses towards predicting permafrost thaw dynamics by using targeted data collection.
Our first circumarctic data collection is now published on PANGAEA! Citation: Martin, Julia; Boike, Julia; Chadburn, Sarah; Zwieback, Simon; Anselm, Norbert; Goldau, Maybrit P.; Hammar,
The AWIPEV team was measuring the active layer thickness in the T-MOSAiC transect in the end of June 2022 at the Bayelva research site near
The European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Permafrost project is a global monitoring program with the major aim to provide long-term Earth Observation
Based on the protocol we released our mobile app myThaw for smartphones, tablets and personal computers.
You can use myThaw to collect the data in any permafrost region around the world and upload it to the T-MOSAiC database.
