International Permafrost Association

The Nominations and Awards Committee is responsible for screening candidates for election to the Executive Committee and determining recipients of IPA Awards. The EC appoints the NAC for a four year period, starting one year before an ICOP. Reappointment to the committee for multiple terms is possible. The NAC plays an important role in shaping future IPA leadership.

NAC 2019-2023

Chair: Julian Murton, UK

Members:

Antoni Lewkowicz, Canada

Marcia Phillips, Switzerland

Cathy Wilson, US

Tingjun Zhang, China

Dmitrii Sergeev, Russia

Megan Balks, New Zealand

The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) is the primary international programme concerned with monitoring the permafrost essential climate variables, namely permafrost temperature and active layer thickness. GTN-P was developed by the IPA under the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and the Global Terrestrial Observing Network (GTOS). The GTN-P database is the free, open-source central database for permafrost observations, with over 1000 borehole measurement sites, 200+ Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) sites, and a variety of additional datasets including satellite-derived surface temperature, satellite-derived surface soil moisture, and air temperature.

Vist the GTN-P website (https://gtnp.arcticportal.org/) and database (http://gtnpdatabase.org/) to learn more about the organization and to access data.

GTN-P Steering Committee:

• Dmitry Streletskiy, Chair, USA
• Jeannette Noetzli, Co-Chair, Switzerland
• Sharon Smith, Co-Chair, Canada
• Philippe Schoeneich, France
• Gonçalo Vieira, Portugal
• Aleksey Maslakov, Young National Correspondent Representative, Russia

GTN-P Advisory Board:

• Boris Biskaborn, past GTN-P Director (2014-2018), Germany
• Jerry Brown, past IPA President (2003-2008), USA
• Eduardo Cremonese, Italy
• Hanne H. Christiansen, current IPA President (2016-2020), Norway
• Wilfried Haeberli, Switzerland
• Barry Goodison, Canada
• Margareta Johansson, Sweden
• Halldor Johannsson, Iceland
• Hugues Lantuit, Germany
• Paolo Pogliotti, Italy
• Vladimir Romanovsky, USA

Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Mountains (GAPHAZ) is a Scientific Standing Group of the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS) and of the International Permafrost Association. For additional information on GAPHAZ and their services, database, and events, visit their website.

GAPHAZ aims at:

• Improving the international scientific communication on glacier and permafrost hazards
• Compiling of a state of knowledge related to glacier and permafrost hazards in high mountains
• Working towards a greater transfer of information and improved communication between the scientific and governmental communities
• Signposting sources of advice to international and national agencies, responsible authorities and private companies
• Acting as a focal point for information for international media during relevant crises

GAPHAZ activities are:

• Compilation and maintenance of a link list related to glacier and permafrost hazards
• Maintenance of a list of scientists and organisations active in the field of glacier and permafrost hazards in high mountains
• Compilation of a bibliography on glacier and permafrost hazards in high mountains
• Workshops on glacier and permafrost hazards
• Special sessions within international scientific conferences (e.g., AGU, EGU)
• Field trips
• Publications (workshop proceedings, special journal issue or a joint review article)
• Lobbying governmental departments, development banks and donor agencies to raise the awareness of key related issues

The IPA Permafrost and Carbon budgets Interest Group (IPaC) was approved by the IPA Council in June 2018 during EUCOP5 in Chamonix, France. The aim of the IPaC is to create and sustain a formalized pathway for IPA permafrost experts to give feedback on the representation of permafrost in datasets used for broad-scale carbon budgets. The need for an interest group was first articulated by members of the Global Carbon Project while working on the global methane budget. The Global Carbon Project is a sponsor organisation of the Interest Group and IPaC will act in an advisory capacity in the calculation and revision of regional and global carbon budgets. IPaC will work in close collaboration with the Permafrost Carbon Network, which has shown great leadership in leading synthesis science related to permafrost carbon. As the need for new synthesis science is recognized through IPaC, actionable items will be pursued within the Permafrost Carbon Network.

The first IPaC permafrost researcher survey - The IPaC Synthesis Report on prioritized permafrost and carbon research topics - solicited inputs and ideas on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) related topics that could improve both estimations of permafrost carbon and the understanding of its contribution to the global carbon budget.

IPaC is led by a Steering Committee chaired by Dr. Gustaf Hugelius, the founder of the Interest Group. Day-to-day activities of the group are coordinated by Dr. Justine Ramage. The Steering Committee members are:

►    Christina Biasi, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
►    Robert B. Jackson, Stanford University, USA
►    Dmitry Kaverin, Komi Scientific Centre, Russia
►    Benjamin Poulter, NASA, USA
►    Christina Schädel, Northern Arizona University, USA
►    Ted Schuur, Northern Arizona University, USA
►    Jens Strauss, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany
►    Merritt Turetsky, University of Guelph, Canada
►    Yuanhe Yang, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China