Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast
Abstract Arctic coastal environments are eroding and rapidly changing. A lack of pan-Arctic observations limits our ability to understand controls on coastal erosion rates across the entire Arctic region. Here, we capitalize on an abundance of geospatial and remotely sensed data, in addition to mode...
Published in: | Environmental Research Letters |
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crioppubl:10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 2024-06-02T08:01:18+00:00 Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast Piliouras, Anastasia Jones, Benjamin M Clevenger, Tabatha Gibbs, Ann E Rowland, Joel C US DOE Biological and Environmental Research National Science Foundation U.S. Geological Survey 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8/pdf unknown IOP Publishing http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Environmental Research Letters volume 18, issue 11, page 114050 ISSN 1748-9326 journal-article 2023 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 2024-05-07T13:59:44Z Abstract Arctic coastal environments are eroding and rapidly changing. A lack of pan-Arctic observations limits our ability to understand controls on coastal erosion rates across the entire Arctic region. Here, we capitalize on an abundance of geospatial and remotely sensed data, in addition to model output, from the North Slope of Alaska to identify relationships between historical erosion rates and landscape characteristics to guide future modeling and observational efforts across the Arctic. Using existing datasets from the Alaska Beaufort Sea coast and a hierarchical clustering algorithm, we developed a set of 16 coastal typologies that captures the defining characteristics of environments susceptible to coastal erosion. Relationships between landscape characteristics and historical erosion rates show that no single variable alone is a good predictor of erosion rates. Variability in erosion rate decreases with increasing coastal elevation, but erosion rate magnitudes are highest for intermediate elevations. Areas along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast (ABSC) protected by barrier islands showed a three times lower erosion rate on average, suggesting that barrier islands are critical to maintaining mainland shore position. Finally, typologies with the highest erosion rates are not broadly representative of the ABSC and are generally associated with low elevation, north- to northeast-facing shorelines, a peaty pebbly silty lithology, and glaciomarine deposits with high ice content. All else being equal, warmer permafrost is also associated with higher erosion rates, suggesting that warming permafrost temperatures may contribute to higher future erosion rates on permafrost coasts. The suite of typologies can be used to guide future modeling and observational efforts by quantifying the distribution of coastlines with specific landscape characteristics and erosion rates. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Beaufort Sea Ice north slope permafrost Alaska IOP Publishing Arctic Barrier Islands ENVELOPE(-92.283,-92.283,62.784,62.784) Environmental Research Letters 18 11 114050 |
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IOP Publishing |
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crioppubl |
language |
unknown |
description |
Abstract Arctic coastal environments are eroding and rapidly changing. A lack of pan-Arctic observations limits our ability to understand controls on coastal erosion rates across the entire Arctic region. Here, we capitalize on an abundance of geospatial and remotely sensed data, in addition to model output, from the North Slope of Alaska to identify relationships between historical erosion rates and landscape characteristics to guide future modeling and observational efforts across the Arctic. Using existing datasets from the Alaska Beaufort Sea coast and a hierarchical clustering algorithm, we developed a set of 16 coastal typologies that captures the defining characteristics of environments susceptible to coastal erosion. Relationships between landscape characteristics and historical erosion rates show that no single variable alone is a good predictor of erosion rates. Variability in erosion rate decreases with increasing coastal elevation, but erosion rate magnitudes are highest for intermediate elevations. Areas along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast (ABSC) protected by barrier islands showed a three times lower erosion rate on average, suggesting that barrier islands are critical to maintaining mainland shore position. Finally, typologies with the highest erosion rates are not broadly representative of the ABSC and are generally associated with low elevation, north- to northeast-facing shorelines, a peaty pebbly silty lithology, and glaciomarine deposits with high ice content. All else being equal, warmer permafrost is also associated with higher erosion rates, suggesting that warming permafrost temperatures may contribute to higher future erosion rates on permafrost coasts. The suite of typologies can be used to guide future modeling and observational efforts by quantifying the distribution of coastlines with specific landscape characteristics and erosion rates. |
author2 |
US DOE Biological and Environmental Research National Science Foundation U.S. Geological Survey |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Piliouras, Anastasia Jones, Benjamin M Clevenger, Tabatha Gibbs, Ann E Rowland, Joel C |
spellingShingle |
Piliouras, Anastasia Jones, Benjamin M Clevenger, Tabatha Gibbs, Ann E Rowland, Joel C Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast |
author_facet |
Piliouras, Anastasia Jones, Benjamin M Clevenger, Tabatha Gibbs, Ann E Rowland, Joel C |
author_sort |
Piliouras, Anastasia |
title |
Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast |
title_short |
Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast |
title_full |
Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast |
title_fullStr |
Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast |
title_full_unstemmed |
Variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast |
title_sort |
variability in terrestrial characteristics and erosion rates on the alaskan beaufort sea coast |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8/pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-92.283,-92.283,62.784,62.784) |
geographic |
Arctic Barrier Islands |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barrier Islands |
genre |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Ice north slope permafrost Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Ice north slope permafrost Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters volume 18, issue 11, page 114050 ISSN 1748-9326 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad04b8 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
114050 |
_version_ |
1800745612567642112 |