Arctic Coast Erosion: A Regional to Local Perspective

• Main Authors: James P. M. Syvitski, William F. Manley, Scott D. Peckham, Mark Dyurgerov, Leanne Lestak, A Lynch, James Maslanik
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Chukchi Sea; Barrow; Chukchi; Climate change; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.567.608; http://nome.colorado.edu/HARC/Publications/Syvitski03.pdf

High-latitude coasts are susceptible to increases in global temperatures, through extending the periods of ice thaw and reduction in summer sea-ice extent, thereby creating greater wave exposure. One consequence is increased coastal erosion (Solomon et al., 1994). Reduction in the ice season, combined with a shrinking and thinning of the Arctic sea-ice cover (Rothrock et al., 1999; Serreze et al., 2000), is contributing to Alaskan and Siberian coastline retreat at rates of meters per year (Are, 1999). Paradoxically, sediment transport by ice is likely to increase along more frequent and stronger storms (Proshutinsky et al. 1999; Stierle and Eicken, 2002). The increase in coastal erosion will be offset locally, around the mouths of Arctic Rivers that are expected to deliver ever more sediment with warming of the hinterland (Syvitski, 2002). Along with these structural impacts, sea level rise continues, with the largest contribution (80%) to Arctic Ocean sea level rise (≈5mm/yr) coming from melt of ice fields. Arctic coastal communities depend on access to the sea and to sea ice, but are vulnerable to flooding and erosion. To examine the combined impact of climate change at the local scale, a variety of approaches are used to assess the history and risk of erosion and flooding along the Chukchi Sea coast near Barrow, Alaska (www.colorado.edu/Research/HARC). The study