Glaziologische Studien (Geophysik, Geodaesie, Fliessmodelle) werden auf dem Colle Gnifetti (Monte Rosa, kalter Firn) und am Piz Corvatsch (Oberengadin, Permafrost) durchgefuehrt. Die Resultate dienen als Grundlage fuer die Analyse von Bohrkernen in Firn, Eis und Permafrost. Anhand dieser Bohrkerne wird die Geschichte der Atmosphaerenzusammensetzung (v.a. Luftverschmutzung) und der Grundwassercharakteristik vor der Zeit direkter Messungen rekonstruiert. Dabei geht es in erster Linie um Basiswerte aus der vorindustriellen Zeit. Die Glaziologie betrachtet in diesem Rahmen vor allem Einbettungsverhaeltnisse der gespeicherten Umweltinformation und die involvierten Zeitskalen.
A detailed attributed point feature shapefile of 6059 pingo locations in a 3.5 × 10⁶ km² region of northern Asia was manually assembled from 1:200 000 scale Russian topographic maps. These medium-scale maps are based on detailed mapping efforts at 1:50 000 and 1:100 000 scales, which in turn are derived from aerial photography acquired in the 1970-1980s (Soviet Military Topographic Survey or Voenno-Topograficheskoe Upravle-nie General'nogo Shtaba, VTU GSh). A first order analysis of pingo distribution was carried out with respect to permafrost, landscape characteristics, surface geology, hydrology, climate, and elevation datasets using a Geographic Information System. The study area comprises the North Asian lowland regions of North, Northeast, Far East and Central Siberia and adjacent mountain ranges from 60.0° N to 76.3° N latitude and 60.0° E to 180.0° W longitude. The geographic re-gions covered in this study are the northern part of the West Siberian Lowlands including the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas, Taymyr Peninsula, Putorana Plateau, Khatanga-Anabar-Olenek Lowlands, Lena River Delta, Lena River Valley, central Yakutian Lowlands around Yakutsk; Yana-Indigirka-Kolyma Lowlands, New Siberian Islands, and the far east Siberian Chukotka region.