Session Announcement and Call for Papers
Open Session on Permafrost (CR2)
European Geosciences Union General Assembly
2-7 April 2006
Vienna, Austria
Abstract Submission Deadline: Friday, 13 January 2006
For further information, please go to:
http://www.cosis.net/members/meetings/programme/view.php?m_id=29&p_id=1…
Abstracts can be submitted online at:
http://www.cosis.net/members/meetings/abstracts/submit2.php?m_id=29&s_i…
In the upcoming EGU General Assembly in Vienna, Austria there will be an
an open session on permafrost (CR2).
Description
Permafrost is a widespread phenomenon in polar areas and cold mountain
terrain. Geomorphic processes that are associated with permafrost have
also had a strong influence on the morphogenesis of vast areas in the
mid latitudes during the Pleistocene. In the light of present and likely
future climate changes, permafrost environments are expected to undergo
rapid changes. Alterations in the thermal regime may cause geotechnical
and environmental problems, mainly in terms of thaw subsidence,
increased frequencies of rapid mass movement, and severe changes of soil
moisture contents and water balance. Permafrost research can thus
contribute to the understanding of present and past periglacial
processes and landforms, help obtain valuable information from, for
example, geomorphology or monitoring networks, and provide the basis for
simulations of possible future developments within this fragile
environment.
In this session, contributions are invited on permafrost and related
topics that come from all disciplines, backgrounds, applied
methodologies, and geographic areas and that do not explicitly belong to
any of the other specialized sessions.
Conveners:
Stephan Gruber, University of Zurich, Switzerland and University of
Savoie, France
Bernd Etzelmuller, University of Oslo, Norway