“The overall goal of my research is to help prepare the world, and Canada specifically, to live better with thawing permafrost. I want to help enable northerners and southerners to make better decisions that affect the north.”
Stephan Gruber is focused on understanding and quantifying impacts of permafrost thaw resulting from anthropogenic climate change so that humans can start to anticipate and predict future environmental conditions. Looking ahead creates room for maneuver in adapting to climate change and in building resiliency. Gruber liaises with people who live on permafrost to help shape his research. Permafrost is ground that has been frozen (below 0ºC) for a long time, often for hundreds or thousands of years. When the ice contained in permafrost ground melts after this long time, it can cause unpredictable consequences for ecosystems, land use and infrastructure, and bring about additional emissions of greenhouse gasses. Having lived in many different countries such as Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and the United States before making Canada his home, Gruber is among few scholars that has been hands-on in his research in both the Arctic and high mountains using field measurements and computer models to generate knowledge for informing adaptation and policy decisions.
To view Stephan Gruber’s full profile, click here.
Website: www.permafrostnet.ca