Thermal and Mechanical Modeling of Coastal Erosion Processes on Tuktoyaktuk Island, Northwest Territories ...

Arctic coasts are particularly vulnerable to rapid and extreme erosion due to the presence of ice-rich permafrost sediment, with erosion rates varying anywhere from 1 to 20 m/yr in the region. Erosion is limited to the open-water season such that the factors controlling rates of erosion are warmer a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ouellette, Danika Sophie
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Schulich School of Engineering 2021
Subjects:
Ice
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/39266
https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/113949
Description
Summary:Arctic coasts are particularly vulnerable to rapid and extreme erosion due to the presence of ice-rich permafrost sediment, with erosion rates varying anywhere from 1 to 20 m/yr in the region. Erosion is limited to the open-water season such that the factors controlling rates of erosion are warmer air temperatures and storm surges impacting the sensitive ice-rich permafrost coastal bluffs. Erosional processes in the Arctic are unique and consist of coupled thermal and mechanical mechanisms. The coastal community of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, located along the Beaufort Sea coast in the western Canadian Arctic, has been dealing with the consequences of coastal erosion for many decades and will likely face displacement due to accelerating rates of erosion. In this study, a process-based thermal-mechanical erosion numerical model was developed for Tuktoyaktuk Island, which currently shelters the harbour and eastern shores of the community from wave impact, to investigate erosional processes commonly ...