Speaker
Description
The Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTN-P) is the primary international programme dedicated to sustained, long-term monitoring of permafrost. Recently, the network was accredited by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) as an Affiliated Network, reflecting the importance of permafrost as one of the 55 Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) defined by GCOS for characterizing Earth’s climate. Bringing together researchers and institutions from more than thirty countries, GTN-P collects in-situ data on the Permafrost ECV quantities Permafrost Temperature (PT) and Active Layer Thickness (ALT), with Rock Glacier Velocity (RGV) to be included soon. These long-term observations are fundamental to understanding how permafrost responds to a warming climate and to assessing the future greenhouse gas contributions expected from permafrost thaw.
The new GTN-P Data Platform (https://data.gtn-p.org) was launched earlier this year following extensive community consultation, marking a major step forward in data management and accessibility. It enables users to explore data availability, access standardized metadata, and visualize temperature-depth time series, while a public API provides programmatic access to data and metadata and facilitates interoperability with other systems and tools. The underlying infrastructure is hosted at the AWI Computing and Data Center and designed for long-term reliability, scalability, and maintainability. Persistent identifiers (PIDs) provide stable references for PT and ALT sites, datasets, and related resources. Starting next year, annual data compilations will be published through the PANGAEA World Data System as DOI-citable data products, with all contributors credited as authors to ensure recognition and ownership remain with the original data providers. Together, these features establish a reliable and accessible infrastructure for the long-term management, sharing, and use of global permafrost data.