Distribution and Monitoring of Permafrost in Central and Eastern Asia Sergei Marchenko 1) , Mamoru Ishikawa 2)* , N. Sharkhuu 3) , Huijun Jin 4) , Xin Li 4) , Zhao Lin 4) , Hironori Yabuki 5) , Jerry Brown 6) 1) Institute of Geography, Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences, Almaty, Kazakhstan 2) Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan * Corresponding author: mishi@ees.hokudai.ac.jp 3) Institute of Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 4) Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China 5) Institute of Observational Research for Global Change, JAMSTEC, Yokohma, Japan 6) International Permafrost Association, Woods Hole, MA USA Abstract The International Permafrost Association is coordinating four approved IPY permafrost projects that cover both hemispheres; TSP (50), ANTPAS (30), ACCO-Net (90) and CAPP (373). This report emphasizes the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) activities in Asia. Monitoring of borehole temperatures and active layer thickness is an essential element of the IPY TSP project. Mapping, modeling, and monitoring strategies in mountain regions are under development to test and to verify climate-change scenarios and models. Accelerated warming of permafrost in mountainous, highland, and plateau regions of Asia will result in disequilibria of the water cycle, increased mass wasting processes, and related sediment transport and slope hazards. Without a unified and verified regional permafrost map these processes cannot be assessed adequately. In response to the difficulties involved in classifying and mapping of the region's permafrost, workshops were organized by the IPA in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (September 2001) and in Lanzhou, China (August 2006). 1.0 Introduction This paper provides a brief review and update of planned permafrost activities during the International Polar Year (2007-2009). It presents an update of the presentations and discussions at several meetings in Japan (Brown 2005; Ishikawa 2006; JAMSTEC 2006; Yuanming et al. 2006, and results of the workshop in Lanzhou, China, in August 2006 on Workshop on Permafrost of Central and Eastern Asia. The Polar Year present a unique opportunity not previously possible; to assess the global state of permafrost on a warming Planet. Four coordinated IPY permafrost projects (clusters) comprise 50 individual projects from 28 countries and involve over 250 researchers and students. Details of the four projects are found on the IPY and IPA web sites: Project 50: Permafrost Observatory Project: A Contribution to the Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) Project 33: Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Permafrost, Periglacial and Soil Environments (ANTPAS) Project 90: Arctic Circumpolar Coastal Observatory Network (ACCO-Net) Project 373: Carbon Pools in Permafrost Regions (CAPP) Geographically the programme focuses on both polar regions and also covers mountains and plateau regions of the mid- and low-latitudes. Permafrost terrains occur on 24% of the Northern Hemisphere and at least all ice-free regions of Antarctica. Essentially all permafrost regions are experiencing some degree of warming. The effects vary regionally and depend on permafrost temperatures, ground ice content, and a range of climate parameters. The major focus of the programme is to obtain a snapshot of current permafrost conditions that will serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes and to validate models. Some 500 observing sites are identified for monitoring, many of which have historical measurements for establishing recent changes. These include measurements of permafrost temperatures in