Permafrost Laboratory
Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska Fairbanks
903 Koyukuk Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775
U.S.A

This website: http://www.permafrostwatch.org

The Geophysical Institute Permafrost Laboratory (GIPL)

The Permafrost Laboratory deals with scientific questions related to the circumpolar permafrost dynamics and feedbacks between permafrost and global change. At the Permafrost Laboratory, data related to the thermal and structural state of circumpolar permafrost is collected and analyzed. The focus of our research is the development of methods to physically and mathematically model permafrost interactions with the climate system (permafrost modeling), the study of naturally and human induced disturbances of permafrost (permafrost process studies), the detection of changes in permafrost temperature, thickness, and distribution over time (permafrost monitoring), and the prediction of impacts of permafrost changes on the natural environment (e.g. ecosystems, hydrology, carbon cycle) as well as human-related concerns (e.g. infrastructure). We are interested in all aspects of how permafrost is affected by global change with respect to climate as well as natural and human induced disturbances. The Permafrost Lab was established in the 1960s by Professor Thomas E. Osterkamp at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The Group

Professor of Geophysics Dr. Vladimir E. Romanovsky is the head of the GI Permafrost Laboratory. Currently, our international team consists of Associate Professor Dr. Sergey S. Marchenko, Post Doctoral Fellows Dr. Ronald Daanen, Dr. Guido Grosse, and Dr. Alexander Kholodov, Ph.D. students Elchin Jafarov and Benjamin Jones, and M.S. students Meghan Tillapaugh and Meghan Leach. Research Technician Bill Cable complements our group with his expertise. We are closely collaborating with many other researchers and students at UAF and other institutions.

The Website

The GIPL website was completely remodeled in Apr 2007 and is updated on a more or less regular base every few weeks since then. Please report any inconveniences with the website funcionality to the webmaster. Please be also advised that this website is using active content (Javascript 1.2) for the popout-menu on the left side. Therefore, Java Script needs to be enabled in your web browser for proper viewing. Thank you.

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