The Data button on the PAGE21 website links to satellite data (ESA Due Permafrost), flux data (Fluxnet Database), and the GTN-P database, which can also be accessed directly from the new GTN-P website. The content is still the same.
You can find a complete list of the National Correspondents here.
Permafrost is a direct indicator of climate change. Permafrost temperature and active layer thicknesses have been identified as Essential Climate Variables (ECV) by the global observing community. The monitoring of these parameters has been performed for several decades already, outfitted with an “open data policy”. Due to the heterogeneity of the stored data these ECV's are badly represented in scientific models and they are not used by as many researchers as initially intended.
The goal of this new GTN-P Database is to produce a comprehensive set of input data layers which will, for the first time, be provided to both permafrost and global climate models in compatible formats. Every new data set of sufficient quality greatly contributes to a better understanding and prediction of the development of terrestrial permafrost and its role in the global climate system.
The data upload tutorial will guide you step by step towards an easy and fast data upload.
To prepare a CSV file (Comma-Separated Values) in Excel you need to adopt the necessary data format.
The first possibilty is to change Windows settings by clicking at the Windows Start menu - Control panel – Clock, language and region – Change date, time or number format. There, the data format should be set as YYYY-MM-DD. At Additional Settings, the decimal symbol should be choosen as dot (.) and the list separator as comma (,). When pressing OK Excel adopts these settings automatically.
The second opportunity refers to the data format in Excel. Therefore, set the cell format as YYYY-MM-DD. Make sure that the decimal symbol and the list separator are used correctly.
The accuracy of measurements and thermistors varies according to the standards and aims of the research groups and countries involved. An accuracy of ±0.1 °C is desirable. When uploading the data, the system automatically provides a visual data control for a quality check on the fly, e.g. for identifying outliers, before the data are being published. In any case the data will not get published or used without your explicit approval, even if the data set is uploaded.
All variables and parameters are defined and listed in the Controlled Vocabulary.
The GTN-P Data Management aims to provide a DOI annually for the entire comprehensive data record of the GTN-P Database. In particular cases we also aim to collaborate with PANGAEA (or a similar service) which provides DOI's for single datasets.
Unfortunately, there is no database for submarine permafrost - at least at the moment we were writing this text. As the GTN-P has to restrict itself to a definite category, only terrestrial permafrost temperature and active layer thickness data can be entered.
Permafrost temperatures are usually monitored by lowering a calibrated thermistor into a borehole (less than 10 m to greater than 100 m depth) or recording the temperature from multisensor cables which are permanently or temporarily installed in a borehole.
The traditional methods to determine the seasonal and long‐term changes in thickness of the active layer are
1) mechanical probing by pushing a metal rod into the ground up to the point of resistance anually,
2) using frost/thaw tubes for measuring heave or subsidence and
3) interpolation of soil temperatures obtained by data loggers.