Thawing Permafrost

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The energy balance of permafrost soils and ecosystems.- Chapter 3. The role of ground ice.- Chapter 4. Permafrost carbon quantities and fluxes.- Chapter 5. Permafrost in transition.- Chapter 6. Vegetation change.- Chapter 7. Methane.- Chapter 8. Models: Forecasting the present and future of permafrost.- References.- Glossary.

Ko (Jacobus) van Huissteden studied Physical Geography at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in the 80's. In 1990 he acquired a PhD with a thesis on Ice age river deposits in the Netherlands. These deposits proved an inspiring source of information on paleo-permafrost, including permafrost thaw features and the permafrost carbon cycle. After a short intermezzo in IT development for Earth Sciences and soil remediation research, Van Huissteden returned to Vrije Universiteit. His research work and teaching included research on Pleistocene fluvial and eolian sediments in Europe and Asia, peatland carbon cycle studies in The Netherlands, Geoscientific model development. Since 2004 this also includes research on the permafrost carbon cycle in Northeastern Siberia. He contributed to acquisition of research funding and expansion of research at the Kytalyk tundra research station in Northern Yakutia. In 2010 he received an award from the Yakutian Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his contribution to international cooperation to tundra ecosystems research. He is author or co-author of 110+ research papers and book chapters. After his retirement as associate professor in 2018, he is still active as consultant in peatland soil.