Scope
Both the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and the IPCC Working Group 1 (Fourth Assessment Report) recognize the cryosphere as one of the most significant challenges of climate science and as a major source of uncertainty in global climate projections. While the permafrost carbon feedback has been identified as potentially the largest terrestrial feedback to anthropogenic climate change and the most likely to occur, significant knowledge gaps remain related to the impact of thawing permafrost on the global carbon cycle. This uncertainty includes the magnitude, type, and timing of greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost. Degradation of permafrost also has transformative local impacts on aquatic and terrestrial species and ecosystems. These changes together with the direct effects of permafrost degradation on human infrastructure connect this issue with human population living in the permafrost region and around the globe. WCRP actively promotes targeted research activitie s aimed at improving our understanding of cryospheric processes and our ability to make quantitative predictions and long term projections to provide better quantitative understanding of processes involved in cryosphere-climate interactions, particularly with respect to terrestrial and sub-sea permafrost.

The short course we are proposing will be organized by the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) with the goals of: 1. Equipping young researchers with a multidisciplinary understanding of the role of permafrost in the climate system, 2. Strengthening international collaboration of early career researchers, and 3. Enabling the participants to put their research into a larger context. The short course would fulfill these goals through a series of presentations and discussions, interactions with peers and top level permafrost researchers, and reference materials prepared for the short course.

Aim
The objective of the course is to revise recent methods for the study of permafrost in a changing climate. People attending the workshop will learn about the effect of permafrost development and degradation in polar and mountain regions, and its impact on infrastructures and ecosystems under climate warming scenarios.

Audience
Bachelor, Master, PHD students and post-docs.

Support
Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN)