2004: Coastal Erosion Along the Chukchi Coast Due to An Extreme Storm Event at

• Main Authors: P. M. Sturtevant, L. R. Lestak, W. F. Manley, J. A. Maslanik
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Chukchi Sea; Barrow; Chukchi; Climate change; north slope; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.540.7331; http://nome.colorado.edu/HARC/Publications/Sturtevant_5th_ACD_Report.pdf

Along the north slope of Alaska, shorefast ice protects the coast up to 9 months of the year and negligible tides and waves minimally disturb the shore during the remaining summer months. Most of the coastline change, then, is thought to occur during summer and autumn storm conditions, where heightened sea levels and increased wave action accelerate movement of coastal materials. Changes in storm climate due to climate change may mean that short-term extreme events such as the intense storm experienced by Barrow, AK (established as a key site with the Arctic Coastal Dynamics program) on 3 October 1963 may become more frequent (Easterling). The October 1963 storm was the worst storm ever recorded by the U.S. Weather Bureau at Barrow. Winds reached 25 m/s, the storm surge reached 3.6 m, and wave heights reached 3 m. Homes, buildings, airplanes, and fuel were lost, mostly within reach of waves or located on eroded bluffs (Hume). Studies indicate that the longshore transport from the Barrow area between 1962 and 1964 was 153,000 cubic meters, 20 years of normal transport (Hume). The coast to the southwest of Barrow consists of a narrow beach separating 10m-high bluffs from the Chukchi Sea. These bluffs are comprised of poorly consolidated sand and clay, with