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Summary
The Circum-Arctic permafrost and ground ice map is available via ftp in ESRI Shapefile format and Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid) format. See the Format section for an explanation of the files provided via ftp.

The circumpolar permafrost and ground ice data contribute to a unified international data set that depicts the distribution and properties ... of permafrost and ground ice in the Northern Hemisphere (20°N to 90°N). The re-gridded data set shows discontinuous, sporadic, or isolated permafrost boundaries. Permafrost extent is estimated in percent area (90-100%, 50-90%, 10-50%, <10%, and no permafrost). Relative abundance of ground ice in the upper 20 m is estimated in percent volume (>20%, 10-20%, <10%, and 0%). The data set also contains the location of subsea and relict permafrost. the gridded data are gridded at 12.5 km, 25 km, and 0.5 degree resolution. The shapefiles were derived from the original 1:10,000,000 paper map (Brown et al. 1997)

Permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, is ground (soil, sediment, or rock) that remains at or below 0°C for at least two years (Permafrost Subcommittee, 1988). It occurs both on land and beneath offshore arctic continental shelves, and underlies about 22% of the Earth's land surface.

For more information on the creation of the original map, see Heginbottom et al. (1993). The original paper map also includes information on the relative abundance of ice wedges, massive ice bodies and Pingos, ranges of permafrost temperature and thickness (Brown et al. 1997).

Multimedia Sample View full image Caption:  Browse image of Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground-Ice Conditions.

Geographic Coverage Spatial coordinates    N: 90.0   S: 28.0   E: 180.0   W: -180.0

Data Set Citation

Dataset Creator: Brown, J., O.J. Ferrians, Jr., J.A. Heginbottom, and E.S. Melnikov. Dataset Title: Circum-arctic map of permafrost and ground ice conditions Dataset Release Date: 2002-02-01 Dataset Release Place: Boulder, CO Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder, CO Version: 2

Location Keywords

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR > Circumpolar GEOGRAPHIC REGION > ARCTIC

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > FROZEN GROUND > GROUND ICE CRYOSPHERE > FROZEN GROUND > PERMAFROST LAND SURFACE > FROZEN GROUND > GROUND ICE LAND SURFACE > FROZEN GROUND > PERMAFROST

ISO Topic Category

GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION IMAGERY/BASE MAPS/EARTH COVER

Ancillary Keywords

Boreholes Continuous Permafrost Discontinuous Permafrost Mapping Permafrost Extent

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org Data Center Personnel Name: NSIDC USER SERVICES Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199 Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468 Email: nsidc at nsidc.org Contact Address: National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, 449 UCB University of Colorado City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309-0449 Country: USA Frozen Ground Data Center Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/fgdc/ Data Center Personnel Name: NSIDC FGDC USER SERVICES Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199 Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468 Email: nsidc at nsidc.org Contact Address: National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, 449 UCB University of Colorado City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309-0449 Country: USA World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/wdc/ Dataset ID: GGD318 Data Center Personnel Name: NSIDC USER SERVICES Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199 Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468 Email: nsidc at nsidc.org Contact Address: National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, 449 UCB University of Colorado City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309-0449 Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: FTP Distribution Size: 24 MB Distribution Format: ESRI shapefiles Fees: None

Personnel

J. ALAN HEGINBOTTOM Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: 613-992-7813 Fax: 613-992-2468 Email: heginbottom at gsc.emr.ca Contact Address: 601 Booth Street City: Ottawa Province or State: Ontario Postal Code: K1A 0E8 Country: Canada JERRY BROWN Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: 508-457-4982 Fax: 508-457-4982 Email: jerrybrown at igc.apc.org Contact Address: PO Box 7 City: Woods Hole Province or State: MA Postal Code: 02543 Country: USA OSCAR FERRIANS Role: INVESTIGATOR E.S. MELNIKOV Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: 7-095-135-9828 Fax: 7-095-135-6582 Email: emelnikov at mtu-net.ru Contact Address: Vavilov Str. 30/6-74a City: Moscow Postal Code: GSP-1, 119 Country: Russia

Related URL

Link: GET DATA Description: FTP site for obtaining these data. Link: GET SERVICE > ACCESS MAP VIEWER Description: View these and other data in NSIDC's Atlas of the Cryosphere online map viewer. Link: GET SERVICE > GET WEB FEATURE SERVICE (WFS) Description: Access these data in Geography Markup Language (GML) using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS). Link: GET SERVICE > GET WEB MAP SERVICE (WMS) Description: Access these data as map images using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS). Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION Description: NSIDC offers some of our data in the form of images. We have created Google Earth™ files that enable you to overlay these and other data-based images on a virtual globe.

Publications/References
Baranov, I. Ya., ed. 1956. Geocryological map of the USSR. Main Department for Geodesy and Cartography (GUGK), Moscow, scale 1:10,000,000 (Russian).

Baranov, I. Ya. 1959. Geographical distribution of seasonally frozen ground and permafrost. National Research Council of Canada, Technical Translation No.1121, Ottawa.

Baranov, I. Ya., ed. ... 1965. Principles of geocryological zonation of the permafrost region. Nauka, Moscow, 152 pp. (Russian).

Baranov, I. Ya. 1982. Geocryological map of the USSR. Main Department for Geodesy and Cartography (GUGK), Moscow, scale 1:7,500,000.

Baulin., V.V., ed. 1982. Map of geocryological regions of the West Siberian Plain, USSR Ministry of Geology, VSEGINGEO, scale 1:1,500,000, 4 sheets (Russian).

Black, R.F. 1954. Permafrost -- a review. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Vol. 65, pp. 839-856.

Bliss, L.C. 1979. Vegetation and revegetation within permafrost terrain. in Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Permafrost. National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Vol. 2, pp. 31-50.

Bostock, H.S. 1970. Physiographic regions of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Map 1254A, scale 1:5,000,000.

Brown, J., O.J. Ferrians, Jr., J.A. Heginbottom, and E.S. Melnikov, eds. 1997. Circum-Arctic map of permafrost and ground-ice conditions. Washington, DC: U.S. Geological Survey in Cooperation with the Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources. Circum-Pacific Map Series CP-45, scale 1:10,000,000, 1 sheet.

Brown, R.J.E. 1967. Permafrost in Canada. National Research Council of Canada, Publication 9769, and Geological Survey of Canada, Map 1246A, Ottawa, scale 1:7,603,200.

Brown, R.J.E. 1973. Permafrost. National Atlas of Canada. Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa, Plate 11-12, scale 1:15,000,000.

Brown, R.J.E. 1978. Permafrost = P?rgelisol [Canada]. Hydrological Atlas of Canada, Department of Fisheries and the Environment, Ottawa, Plate 32, scale 1:10,000,000.

Crawford, C.B., and G.H. Johnston. 1971. Construction on permafrost. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 8, pp. 236-251. Ershov, E.D., ed. 1988,1989. Geocryology of the USSR. Nauka, Moscow, 5 volumes(Russian).

Ferrians ,O.J., Jr. 1965. Permafrost map of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey, Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations, Map I-445, scale 1:2,500,000.

Fotiev, S.M. 1978. Effect of long-term cryometamorphism of earth materials on the formation of ground water. in Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Permafrost, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Vol. 1, pp. 181-187.

Fotiev, S.M., N.S. Danilova, and N.S. Shevleva. 1978. Zonal and regional characteristics of permafrost in central Siberia. in Permafrost -- The USSR Contribution to the Second International Conference, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., pp. 104-110.

Gorbunov, A.P. 1978. Permafrost investigations in high-mountain regions. Arctic and Alpine Research, Vol. 10, pp. 283-294.

Heginbottom, J.A. 1984. The mapping of permafrost. Canadian Geographer, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 78-83.

Heginbottom, J.A., and L.K. Radburn. 1992. Permafrost and ground ice conditions of Northwestern Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Map 1691A, scale 1:1,000,000.

Heginbottom, J.A., and M-A. Dubreuil. 1993. A new permafrost and ground ice map for the National Atlas of Canada. in Proceedings, Sixth International Conference on Permafrost, Beijing, vol. 1, pp. 255-260.

Heginbottom, J.A., and M-A. Dubreuil. (1995) Canada -- Permafrost. National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition, scale 1:7,500,000, Plate 2.1 (MCR 4177).

Hughes, O.L. 1969. Distribution of open system pingos in central Yukon Territory with respect to glacial limits. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Paper 69-34, 8 pp.

Hughes, T. 1973. Glacial permafrost and Pleistocene ice ages. in Permafrost -- the North American Contribution to the Second International Conference, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., pp. 213-223.

Judge, A.S. 1973. Deep temperature observations in the Canadian north. in Permafrost -- the North American Contribution to the Second International Conference, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., pp. 35-40.

Kudryavtsev, V.A., K.A. Kondrat'eva, and A.G. Gavrilov. 1978. Geocryological map of the USSR. General Permafrost Studies; Materials for the Third International Conference on Permafrost. Nauka, Novosibirsk, scale 1:2,500,000 (Russian).

Mackay, J.R. 1972. The world of underground ice. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 62, pp. 1-22.

Mackay, J.R. and S.R. Dallimore. 1992. Massive ice of the Tuktoyaktuk area, western Arctic coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol. 29, pp. 1235-1249.

Melnikov, E.S. 1988. Natural geosystems of the plain cryolithozones. in Permafrost, Fifth International Conference, Proceedings. Tapir Publishers, Trondheim, Norway, vol. 1, pp. 208-212.

Melnikov, P.I. 1966. Geocryological map, Yakustkoi, A.S.S.R. Akademia Nauk SSSR, Moscow, scale 1:5,000,000 (Russian).

Nikiforoff, C. 1928. The perpetually frozen subsoil of Siberia. Soil Science, Vol. 26, pp. 61-81. Pewe, T.L. 1982. Geologic hazards of the Fairbanks area. Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Fairbanks, Special Report 15, 109 pp.

Pewe, T.L. 1983. Alpine permafrost in the contiguous United States: a review. Arctic and Alpine Research, Vol. 15, pp. 145-156.

Popov, A.I., S.P. Kachurin, and N.A. Grave. 1966. Features of the development of frozen geomorphology in northern Eurasia. in Proceedings -- Permafrost International Conference, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., NRC Publication 1287, pp. 481-487.

Popov, A.I., et al. 1985. Map of cryolithology of the USSR. Faculty of Geography, M.V. Lomonosov University, Moscow, scale 1:4,000,000, 4 sheets (Russian).

Popov, A. I., et al. 1990. Cryolithological map of North America. Faculty of Geography, M.V. Lomonosov University, Moscow, scale 1:6,000,000, 4 sheets (Russian).

Rapp, A., and L. Annersten. 1969. Permafrost and tundra polygons in northern Sweden. in The Periglacial Environment, T.L. Pewe, ed., McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pp. 65-91.

Shumskiy, P.A, and B.I. Vtyurin. 1966. Underground ice. in Proceedings -- Permafrost International Conference, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. NRC Publication 1287, pp. 108-113.

Shi Yafeng and Mi Disheng, eds. 1988. Map of snow, ice and frozen ground in China. Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, Academia Sinica, scale 1:4,000,000, 2 sheets.

Sodnom, N., and A.L. Yanshin, eds. 1990. Geocryology and Geocryological zonation. National Atlas of Mongolia, GUGK, Ulan Bator / Moscow, Plates 40 and 41, scale 1:4,500,000, 1:12,000,000.

Tong Boliang, et al. 1982. Map of permafrost along the Qinghai-Xizang Highway. Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, Academia Sinica, scale 1:600,000 (Chinese).

Vtyurin, B.I. 1975. 'Ground ice of the USSR' (In Russian). Moscow: Nauka.

Wahrhaftig, C. 1965. Physiographic divisions of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 482, 52 pp.

Washburn, A.L. 1980. Geocryology. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Halstead Press.

Weidick, A. 1968. Observations on some Holocene glacier fluctuations in West Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland 165(6), 202 pp. Williams, R.B.G. 1969. Permafrost and temperature conditions in England during the last glacial period in The Periglacial Environment. Edited by T.L. Pewe. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Zhang, T., R.G. Barry, K. Knowles, J.A. Heginbottom, J. Brown. 1999. Statistics and characteristics of Permafrost and ground ice Distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. Polar Geography 23(2):132-154.

Zhang, T., J.A. Heginbottomm R.G. Barry, J. Brown. 2000. Further Statistics on the Distribution of Permafrost and Ground Ice in the Northern Hemisphere. Polar Geography 24(2):126-131.

Creation and Review Dates

Last DIF Revision Date: 2009-01-21

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