Newsletter n. 30 autumn 2009
PYRN –Permafrost Young Researchers Network
Also available online here: [http://pyrn.ways.org/newsletter-n-30-autumn-2009]

1.    PYRN @ Puschino
2.    PYRN and USPA @ AGU
3.    PYRN @ EUCOPIII!
4.    Permafrost summer school
5.    PYRN Special Issue in PPP
6.    Permafrost glossary
7.    Latest job postings
8.    Upcoming conferences
9.    Permafrost in the news

1. PYRN @ Puschino
The first PYRN – Russia Workshop entitled: “PYRN in Russia : from frozen to
thawed state” was held , in Puschino, Russia, October 23 -25, 2009. A group of
about 25 scientists including Valery Grebenec, David Gilichinsky, Ivan Sudakov
(one of the APECS coordinators for Russia), Dmitry Kaverin met in Puschino and discussed the
role of Young Permafrost Researchers in Russia. In brief, it was concluded to:
- organize a similar meeting regularly,
- formulate a letter addressed to organizations in Russia interested in
permafrost research. The letter will include information about PYRN and an
invitation to collaboration
- initiate efforts to organize special grants for permafrost students in the
Earth cryosphere community.
Thank you to Andrey Abramov and Alexey Lupachev for the successful
organization!

We encourage other national PYRN groups to be involed in organizing future
workshops and meetings!

2. PYRN and USPA @ AGU
The American Geophysical Union 2009 Fall Meeting will take place in San
Francisco between 12-18 December. Browse the site
([http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm09/]) to find several permafrost related
sessions.
* USPA-PYRN Forum
US Permafrost Association is sponsoring the event, which aim to increase the
communication within PYRN and between PYRN and USPA and to provide the early
career researchers a chance to find out about professional and research career
opportunities/challenges in the US. The event is scheduled for Wednesday
December 16th, 8-10AM, in the Arctic Community Meeting Room, Marriott.
* USPA Annual Meeting
We encourage you to attend the USPA Annual Meeting in the Arctic Community
Meeting Room, Marriott, 6.30-8.30PM on Thursday, 17 December 2009. This is a
great opportunity to mingle with  permafrost reseachers active in the US.
* USPA Travel Grants to AGU 2009
USPA contributed with partial financial travel support to five US based PYRN
members through a competitive process, which closed October 15th. The applicants
represented seven universities and a broad range of disciplines. The winners of
the USPA Travel Grants to the 2009 AGU Fall Meeting are;
- Jonathan O'Donnell, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
- Elchin Jafarov, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
- Benjamin Jones, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
- Kacy Krieger, Idaho State University
- Jinjun Tong, University of California, Irvine
The winners will accept their awards during USPA’s Annual Meeting..

3. PYRN @ EUCOP III, Norway-Svalbard
The Third European Conference on Permafrost: “Thermal state of frozen ground
in a changing climate during IPY” will be held in Svalbard, 13-17 June 2010.
Find the first circular and all other details on the website:
[http://www.eucop2010.no/]
The EUCOP conference together with PYRN supports students and early career
scientists by allowing a reduced registration fee and arranging low cost
accommodations.
In addition, PYRN is organizing a social gathering for PYRN members on Monday
June 14 as well as poster and presentation awards. Details will follow.

4. Permafrost Summer School
Arctic in a changing climate: Connection to permafrost
Summer School 2010, International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska,
Fairbanks

The 2010 IARC Summer School will build upon the successful field trip along the
Dalton Highway offered during the 2008 Ninth International Conference on
Permafrost. The 2010 IARC Summer School aims to encourage participants, advanced
graduate students and post-doctoral research scientists, to explore permafrost
science across traditional disciplines at various scales through lectures, field
trips and group projects. A new component of the popular summer school is the
culmination in a workshop, where summer school participants and invited senior
scientists are asked to define future research needs by focusing on the
intersections of disciplines related to permafrost science.
The 2010 summer school, located at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the
Toolik Research Station, is tentatively planned for late May. Partial travel
grants will likely be available between Fairbanks and successful applicants’
home institution.  The application process will open in early 2010. Please visit
[http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/education_outreach/summer/2010/ ] or contact Tohru
Saito [saito@iarc.uaf.edu] for additional information.

5. PYRN Special Issue in PPP
We are honoured to have a special PPP edition, which will contain only articles
from PYRN members. This is an outcome of the Ninth Conference on Permafrost
(NICOP) held in Fairbanks in 2008 and aims at highlighting the young researchers
work. Please have an early view on:
[http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/110505408/issue]

6. Help wanted to make a Permafrost glossary, Web Gallery connection
Following the discussion on the PYRN Website called Permafrost in Wikis, the
PYRN committee decided to work on the Gallery connection. The glossary will be
posted on the website and improved by you. If you have pictures, please give
full information like your name, location, date, typical permafrost shape etc…
anything you think could be interesting and relevant to make your pictures into
and educational resource.
Please send ideas and wiki contributions to Sonia, [sonia_hachem@hotmail.com]

7. Latest job postings
An impressive number of positions are advertised on the PYRN website. You can
find them all at [http://pyrn.ways.org/jobs]

8. Upcoming conferences

* AGU Fall Meeting, 14 – 18 December 2009,
[http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm09/ ]

* EGU Spring meeting, 2 - 7 May, 2010,
[http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2010/]

* IPY Oslo Science Conference, "Polar Science - Global Impact", 8-12 June,
2010, [http://www.ipy-osc.no/]

* Third European Conference on Permafrost (EUCOP III), Svalbard, Norway,
13–17 June 2010, [http://www.eucop2010.no/]

* Canadian Permafrost conferences are all reported on the website:
[http://www.aina.ucalgary.ca/scripts/minisa.dll?HOME]. The sixth Canadian
permafrost will be held in Calgary September 2010.

We hope YOU can volunteer in organizing the PYRN events during important
permafrost meetings!

9. Permafrost in the news
You always find the latest newspaper and online articles mentioning permafrost
on the PYRN website [http://pyrn.ways.org/aggregator/sources/1]

All of the items above plus jobs, events, fellowships, blogs, discussions,
image galleries, etc. are available on the PYRN website [http://www.pyrn.org]

Thanks to Lorene Lynn, Anchorage, who is managing the PYRN website!
The PYRN executive committee