Frozen ground and snow cover monitoring in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica: Instrumentation, effects on ground thermal behaviour and future research

The study of the thermal behavior of permafrost and active layer on the South Shetland Islands, in the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula (Antarctica), has been our research topic since 1991, especially after 2006 when we established different active layer thickness and ground thermal monitorin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica
Main Authors: de Pablo, M. A., Ramos, M., Molina, A., Vieira, G., Hidalgo, M. A., Prieto, M., Jiménez, J. J., Fernández, S., Recondo, C., Calleja, J. F., Peón, J. J., Mora, C.
Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Gobierno de España. Fundación para la Ciencia y Tecnología, Portugal.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Universidad de La Rioja 2016
Subjects:
Permafrost
Active layer
Snow cover
Antarctica
Capa activa
Nieve
Antártida
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
islas Shetland del Sur
Shetland del Sur
South Shetland Islands
The Antarctic
Active layer thickness
Antarc*
Antártica
GTN-P
International Permafrost Association
permafrost
Online Access:https://publicaciones.unirioja.es/ojs/index.php/cig/article/view/2917
https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.2917
Description
Summary:The study of the thermal behavior of permafrost and active layer on the South Shetland Islands, in the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula (Antarctica), has been our research topic since 1991, especially after 2006 when we established different active layer thickness and ground thermal monitoring sites of the CALM and GTN-P international networks of the International Permafrost Association. Along this period, the snow cover thickness did not change at those sites, but since 2010, we observed an elongation on the snow cover duration, with similar snow onset, but a delay on the snow offset. Due to the important effects of snow cover on the ground thermal behavior, we started in late 2015 a new research project (PERMASNOW) focused on the accurate monitoring of the snow cover (duration, density, snow water equivalent and distribution), from very different approaches, including new instrumentation, pictures analysis and remote sensing on optical and radar bands. Also, this interdisciplinary and international research team intends to compare the snow cover and ground thermal behavior with other monitoring sites in the Eastern Antarctic Peninsula where the snow cover is minimum and remains approximately constant. El estudio del comportamiento térmico del permafrost y la capa activa en las islas Shetland del Sur, en el lado oeste de la Península Antártica (Antártida), ha sido el objeto de estudio de nuestro equipo de investigación desde 1991, y especialmente desde el año 2006 con la instalación de diversas estaciones de monitorización incluidas en las redes internacionales CALM y GTN-P de la Asociación Internacional del Permafrost. A lo largo de este periodo la cubierta nival no ha variado en su espesor aproximado de forma relevante, si bien hemos podido observar un importante incremento en la duración de dicha cubierta de nieve en todos los emplazamientos de estudio desde 2010. A pesar de que la fecha de inicio de las nevadas no se ha modificado, sí que se ha retrasado el momento de la desaparición de dicho manto ...

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