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Kirsti Midttømme, Geological Survey of Norway (Norway)
Haavard Juliussen, The University Centre in Svalbard (Norway)
Geir Strand, Geological Survey of Norway (Norway)
Hanne Christiansen, The University Centre in Svalbard (Norway)
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NORPERM - the Norwegian Permafrost database is being established at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) as part of the IPY project Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribution to the Thermal State of Permafrost in Norway and Svalbard (TSP Norway). All available new and existing data on ground temperatures from Norway and Svalbard will be included in this Oracle database. Data from other Nordic countries may also be included. The NORPERM data will be freely available for use following IPYs international data policy. NORPERM has a hierarchical structure, with permafrost locations at the first level. This may be local areas such as a mountain or a valley, where factors such as climate, large-scale geomorphology, geology etc do not change much. Boreholes with temperature measurements and sites with miniature temperature dataloggers (MTDs) recording ground temperature, constitute the next level. In the future it may also be possible to include data from in-situ periglacial process monitoring, geodetic surveys and/or remote sensing of landform movement and permafrost landform ages. Relevant geographic, meteorological, geological and geophysical data from other institutions, available through Norway Digital (a national public co-operation of digital data) will be linked to the NORPERM database. The input data for boreholes will follow international standard format, and will be included in the International Global Terrestrial Network of Permafrost (GTN-P), which is the official international database for the TSP IPY project. Data will be quality checked by TSP project scientists, to ensure data quality. The boreholes in NORPERM will also be included in the national borehole database, which is under construction at NGU. Information and core samples from more than 6000 boreholes from mining exploration are available at NGU. Some of these boreholes are drilled in permafrost, and the NORPERM database will be used to select potential existing boreholes for temperature measurements.
NORPERM will be accessible through the websites of TSP Norway and NGU. The dissemination of information is based on technologies for Internet distribution established through Norway Digital. Web map service (WMS) data will show the permafrost localities on both topographical and geological maps. Downloaded data will be available in standard formats as graphical plots, tables, pictures or "facts sheets".
NORPERM will contain temperature data from about 20 new boreholes drilled as part of the TSP Norway activities. Data from 20 existing boreholes, as well as future boreholes, are also to be included. Shallow ground temperature data from hundreds of MTDs will also be included in NORPERM. NORPERM will also be the database for the two permafrost observatories established on Svalbard and in Troms, northern Norway, as part of the TSP Norway project.
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