This award supports an international workshop to be held Nov. 15-19, 2004 in Madison, Wisconsin, with the main goals of integrating and synthesizing data and initiating discussions on preparation of maps of permafrost and ground-ice conditions and soils of the Antarctic region, especially in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Intellectual Merit: Antarctica contains 90% of the world's ice and exerts a predominant influence on southern hemisphere and global atmospheric and cryospheric systems. Only 0.3% of the continent is ice-free, with the MDV constituting the largest ice-free area in Antarctica (4,000 km2, or 25% of the total). Permafrost underlies the entire continent, except where glaciers are thick enough to induce pressure melting. Although soils have been studied in ice-free areas of Antarctica for nearly 100 years, no comprehensive electronic database exists for soils information and soil maps using modern global taxonomies are lacking for the continent. In this work plan, we propose to lay the groundwork for archiving data and constructing maps of the permafrost and ground-ice features and soils of the Antarctic region (>60oS), emphasizing the MDV. Assembled by an international team, these maps would constitute the first permafrost and soil maps of the southern hemisphere and would complement those published for the northern hemisphere. Broader Impacts: Because widespread, systematic changes in the temperature and distribution of permafrost could have profound effects on the flux of greenhouse gases and on the human infrastructure in the Antarctic region, it is critical that observation and analysis procedures be optimized. Similarly, there is a need to collect benchmark analytical data and soil maps for natural resource management of the continent. This workshop will bring together permafrost scientists, soil scientists, and GIS and mapping experts from many of the Antarctic Treaty nations to compile data that will eventually lead to the generation of the first comprehensive maps showing the distribution of permafrost and soils in the southern hemisphere.
