Geocryology ─ Characteristics and Use of Frozen Ground and Permafrost Landforms

Geocryology is the science studying the effects of ground temperatures below 0°C on the surface layers of the crust of the Earth. Areas with perennially frozen ground occupy over 20% of the land areas on Earth. The last book on this subject that dealt with processes and the landforms was published in 1979, and is therefore greatly out of date. The book is divided into three parts, viz., the introduction and characteristics of permafrost, the unique landforms found in these regions, and the limitations and problems affecting development in these areas. The book incorporates considerable Russian and Chinese research and expertise, providing a uniquely comprehensive, global overview.

Stuart Arthur Harris was born?in 1931, in Cheltenham, England. He earned the degrees of B. Sc. (Honours), M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Geology and D.Sc. in Geography from Queen Mary University, University of London. During his National Service, he advised the Chief Engineers Branch, British Troops Egypt and the Arab Legion Engineers in Jordan, solving problems in geology, water supply and engineering. Subsequently, he was a soil surveyor for the consulting firm, Hunting Technical Services, before becoming Government Soil Surveyor in Guyana. He taught in the geography Departments of the University of Chicago, Wilfred Laurier University, and the University of Kansas before joining the University of Calgary in 1969. The National Research Council of Canada asked him to study the relationship of climate to permafrost in 1973, and he mapped the permafrost distribution from Northern New Mexico to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Subsequently, he carried out detailed studies of the permafrost landforms and processes in northwest Canada, as well as on the Tibetan Plateau, China. He has carried out field work in Iceland, the Alps, Poland, Russia, China, Mongolia, New Zealand and Kazakhstan, publishing over 200 papers, books and reports. The Russian Geographical Society awarded him the Nikolai Mihailovich Prjevalsky Medal for his research on Alpine permafrost in 1996. He has also organised three International Field Trips in the Rocky Mountains for overseas scientists in connection with International meetings in Canada.

Professor Anatoli Brouchkov was born in the Yamal Peninsula of Arctic West Siberia 59 years ago. He obtained his Ph.D and D.Sc degrees from the Geology Department of Moscow State University, studying under the tutelage of some of the recent famous Russian permafrost scientists such as N. A. Tsytovch, E. D. Yershov and N. N. Romanovski. Over the years, he has run a geocryological laboratory for the Russian Academy of Sciences as well as an underground permafrost laboratory in Amderma, involving research all over Russia and in Japan. He has specialized in the study of the effects of salinity on the properties of frozen ground and the effects of climate change on permafrost. He has also carried out extensive research on the survival of micro-organisms in permafrost and their potential in medicine. In addition, he has acted as a geocryological consultant to GASPROM, AMOCO, Nippon Steel and Korean Institutes. In 2010, he succeeded the late Nickolai Romanovsky as Professor and Head of the Geocryology group in the Geology Department of Moscow State University.

Academician Cheng Guodong was born?in 1943 in Shanghai, China. He earned his B.Sc. at Beijing Geology College (China University of Geosciences), and carried out fundamental research in the CREEL laboratories at Hanover, New Hampshire, before returning to China. Guodong became an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1993. He was responsible for reorganizing the Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to form the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute. He has led the research very successfully, thus enabling the modernization of the construction techniques in the permafrost areas of China during the last 15 years. One of his most important achievements was the development of the most effective methods of cooling the beds of linear transportation routes using blocks of rock. He has written eight books, and his name appears below the title of numerous papers dealing with the use of permafrost lands. He has received many awards in China, as well as being the recipient of one of the first three IPA Lifetime Achievement awards by the International Permafrost Association.