Permafrost in northwestern Europe during the Last Glacial

This report presents an overview of permafrost development in Europe during the last glacial. It serves as input for the Safety and Feasibility Case 1 (SFC1) and should be read in that perspective. Data on permafrost development during the last glacial stage will be used to evaluate the occurrence of permafrost in the future. There is clear evidence that continuous permafrost developed during the coldest parts of the last glacial (ca. 110-10 ka ago). There is, however, disagreement among various researchers on the exact timing of permafrost conditions. Notwithstanding this, the present report aims at presenting a temperature curve for the last glacial that will serve as input for ongoing and future permafrost calculations. Preliminary results of these calculations are included, and will be compared with previous data on the thickness of permafrost. Finally, a short overview on the possible consequences of permafrost development on Boom Clay, hydrogeology and surrounding geosphere will be presented.