This thesis is within the research project PCCH-Arctic (www.sintef.no/prosjekter/2021/pcch-arctic/) led by Sintef in Trondheim. The idea is to investigate the thermal regime of the permafrost below protected cultural heritage sites on Svalbard, for example, houses from the mining era in Longyearbyen and Ny-Ålesund. You can analyze ground surface temperatures measured near and below the cultural sites and compare them to reference measurements in undisturbed tundra.
Furthermore, you can use the CryoGrid permafrost model to simulate ground temperatures from climate data, taking the impact of the man-made structure for example on winter snow accumulation into account (see also thesis “Numerical simulations of permafrost processes with CryoGrid”). Finally, you can use climate model output to simulate the evolution of the permafrost for future climate scenarios.
With this project, there is the possibility to apply for an Arctic Field Grant from the Svalbard Science Forum to conduct fieldwork on Svalbard. The deadline is usually in October, so contact me early enough if this is an option for you.