Development of low-cost and robust electrical resistivity tomography monitoring system for remote permafrost environments (ERT-PERM)
Christian Hauck
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Université de Fribourg
Lay summary
Permafrost is a widespread phenomenon in the cold regions of the globe and is clearly under-represented in global climate monitoring networks. So far, permafrost networks mainly focus on borehole temperature monitoring. However, borehole temperatures do not give information about ground ice content, the drilling of the boreholes is invasive, and data are only valid for the exact point of the drilling. In contrast, geophysical measurement techniques are non-invasive and yield results over larger spatial scales. On permafrost, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys are used to quantify ground ice, but so far rarely in an operational monitoring mode. Currently, fewer than five such stations exist worldwide.
The PERM2ERT project aims to develop a new, robust, low-cost and autonomous ERT system (A-ERT) for permanent installation in the remote permafrost regions of the world. The overall objective is to make an international A-ERT monitoring network on permafrost feasible, enabling a quantitative analysis of the current ground ice evolution in permafrost regions under climate change.
We will develop the new instrument based on pilot studies in Antarctica and the Swiss Alps and test it under field conditions in four different cold and remote environments, including the Antarctic Peninsula region, Pamir Alay/Central Asia, Yukon and the European Alps (as reference location). The significance of this technological development consists therefore also of the initiation of a global network of A-ERT stations on permafrost which may become part of the newly formed International Permafrost Association (IPA) Action Group IDGSP (Towards an International Database of Geoelectrical Surveys on Permafrost).
