Best practice for measuring permafrost temperature in boreholes based on the experience in the Swiss Alps ...

• Main Authors: Noetzli, Jeannette, Arenson, Lukas U., Bast, Alexander, Beutel, Jan, Delaloye, Reynald, Farinotti, Daniel, Gruber, Stephan, Gubler, Hansueli, Haeberli, Wilfried, Hasler, Andreas, Hauck, Christian, Hiller, Martin, Hoelzle, Martin, Lambiel, Christophe, Pellet, Cécile, Springman, Sarah M., Vonder Muehll, Daniel, Phillips, Marcia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2021
• Subjects: Permafrost; Borehole temperatures; High mountain areas; Long-term monitoring; Best practices; permafrost
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000483771; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/483771

Temperature measurements in boreholes are the most common method allowing the quantitative and direct observation of permafrost evolution in the context of climate change. Existing boreholes and monitoring networks often emerged in a scientific context targeting different objectives and with different setups. A standardized, well-planned and robust instrumentation of boreholes for long-term operation is crucial to deliver comparable, high-quality data for scientific analyses and assessments. However, only a limited number of guidelines are available, particularly for mountain regions. In this paper, we discuss challenges and devise best practice recommendations for permafrost temperature measurements at single sites as well as in a network, based on two decades of experience gained in the framework of the Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network PERMOS. These recommendations apply to permafrost observations in mountain regions, although many aspects also apply to polar lowlands. The main recommendations are (1) ... : Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 ...