Introduction

1. Frost cracks the soil on polygons, which are common in Arctic. Higher left. Nonsorted polygons. The higher vegetation cover in the polygonal trench because of the higher moisture content of the soils. High Arctic, Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, Canada. Lower left: Low-centre lowland polygons. The shallow water cover on the centres and the slightly elevated portion along the ice wedges. High Arctic, Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada. Below: High-centre lowland polygons. The elevated centres compared to the ice-wedge trenches. Mackenzie River Delta area, Northwest Territories, Canada. Soil scientists sample frozen soils to understand the history and forecast the future of the Planet under climate warming Frost affects features of soil and landscape. Soil scientists can recognize frost affects widely spread in warm climates and read the history of the Earth. Core samples from frozen soil showing ice lenses (left) approximately 10 cm thick and a pure ice layer (right). CRYOSOILS contain a mass of organic matter (brown color). This organic matter expects decaying in the future warmer climate releasing CO2 and raising the concentration of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere. NOTES 1. Poster Title • Replace the mock-up text of the poster title (”Environment and Sustainability”) with the text of your own title. • Keep the original font colour (100c 0m 19y 0k). • Keep the flush-right justification. • Set it in Helvetica Rounded Bold Condensed, if you own the typeface. Otherwise, in Arial, Helvetica or Verdana – plain or bold. • Keep the original font body size (102 pt or, preferably,120 pt) and the title on a single line whenever possible. Reduce the body size and/or set the title on more than one line only if unavoidable. 2. 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Keep it within the boundaries of the two main-text boxes provided. • Keep the original font colour (black). • Should you need a second colour within your text, use the same one of the poster title (100c 0m 19y 0k). • Keep the flush-left justification. • Set the main text in MetaPlusBook-Roman and the section headings in MetaPlusBold-Roman, if you own the typefaces. Otherwise, the main text in Arial, Helvetica or Verdana, and the section headings in their respective bold weights. • Adjust the font body size and leading to the needs of your own text, depending on its overall length, for optimal display and legibility. • Should you need a second level of text, set it in a smaller body size than that of your main text (and, in the case of photo captions, in italics, too). • Place your illustrations (pictures, graphs, etc.) within the boundaries of the two main-text boxes. Adjust your text-flow as needed. 4. Contact Box • Replace the mock-up contents of the contact box with your own data. • Keep the contact box in place if possible. Place it elsewhere only if unavoidable for layout reasons, but in that case try, at least, to align it with some main element of the poster. 5. Additional Logos • Should you need to display additional logos (e.g., of partner organizations or universities), reduce or enlarge them to a height within those of the JRC logo and the Directorate or Institute logo. • Place any additional logos on the bottom of the poster, evenly spaced between the JRC and (if there is one) the Directorate or Institute logo, and vertically centred with them. Environment and Sustainability Northern Circumpolar Soil Atlas Introduction The permafrost regions of the world are occupied by CRYOSOILS. These regions are at high latitudes and also at high elevations which are remote or uncomfortable for people to live. The marginal conditions of the CRYOSOLS formation make them a very sensitive to climate warming and human-induced impacts. The CRYOSOLS cover about 25% of the worlds surface and have physical, biological, and chemical properties different from other soils. The knowledge on CRYOSOLS and on the effect of permafrost on soil formation is insufficient. The international scientific community decided to accord global efforts to improve knowledge on CRYOSOLS within the International Polar Year 2008. To meet this challenge, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre initiated a compilation of the Atlas, which will contain a series of maps showing the variation of soil properties in a circumpolar context, including soil maps and descriptions of the major soil ecological functioning and use. The Atlas will be produced through the elaboration of harmonized soil database for the northern circumpolar area. The atlas will be an international collaboration of scientist from all northern latitude countries coordinated by the JRC EC (Ispra, Italy). Contact Vladimir Stolbovoy European Commission • DG Joint Research Centre Institute Name Tel. +39 0332 786330 • Fax +39 0332 786394 E-mail: vladimir.stolbovoy@jrc.it Photos provided byCharles Tarnocai (Canada)