Summary of the 8th International Conference on Permafrost
Zurich, Switzerland
For more information see: http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/ipa/
The 8th International Conference on Permafrost met in Zurich,
Switzerland, July 21-25, 2003. Approximately 300 representatives from
24 countries participated. A total of 230 papers were published and an
additional 85 extended abstracts were published and available for poster
presentations. The local co-chairs were Professors Wilfried Haeberli,
University of Zurich, and Sarah Springman, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology.
The International Permafrost Association held its Council meetings
during the conference and approved activities for 10 working groups:
Permafrost and Climate
Periglacial Processes and Environments
Permafrost Engineering
Cryosol
Coastal and Offshore Permafrost
New Working Groups:
Antarctic Permafrost and Periglacial Environments
Glaciers and Permafrost Hazards in High Mountains
Isotopes and Geochemistry of Permafrost
Mapping and Modelling of Mountain Permafrost
Permafrost Astrobiology
The Council approved membership of Iceland as its 24th member, and
elected the new Executive Committee for the period 2003-2008. Members
are:
Dr. Jerry Brown, President (USA)
Professor Charles Harris, Vice President (United Kingdom)
Dr. Georgy Perltshtein, Vice President (Russia)
Mr. Don Hayley, Member (Canada)
Dr. Hans-W. Hubberten, Member (Germany)
Professor Zhu Yuanlin, Member (China)
The Council approved the invitation from the University of Alaska
Fairbanks to convene the 9th International Conference on Permafrost in
Fairbanks, Alaska, in early summer 2008. An interim field conference
will be held in China in 2006 to highlight the construction of the
Qinghai-Tibet railroad.
More information is available via http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/ipa/