ESA Satellite Data/Wegener Institute Studies Suggest Global Permafrost Meltdown Has Begun
Although permafrost cannot be directly measured from space, factors such as surface temperature, land cover and snow parameters, soil moisture and terrain changes can be captured by satellites. The use of satellite data like from ESA’s Envisat, along with other Earth-observing satellites and intensive field measurements, allows the permafrost research community to get a panoptic view of permafrost phenomena from a local to a Circum-Arctic dimension.
“Combining field measurements with remote sensing and climate models can advance our understanding of the complex processes in the permafrost region and improve projections of the future climate,” said Dr. Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten, head of the Alfred Wegner Institute Research Unit (Germany) and President of the International Permafrost Association.
“The already available permafrost products provide researchers with valuable datasets which can be used in addition to other observational data for climate and hydrological modelling,” said Dr. Leonid Bobylev, the director of the Nansen Centre in St. Petersburg.
“However, for climate change studies – and in particular for evaluation of the climate models’ performance – it is essential to get a longer time series of satellite observational data. Therefore, the permafrost-related measurements should be continued in the future and extended consistently in the past.”
EDIT
http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/03/28/global-warming-tracking-permafrost-meltdown/
