Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022
Landfast sea ice that forms along the Arctic coastline is of great importance to coastal Alaskan communities. It provides a stable platform for transportation and traditional activities, protects the coastline from erosion, and serves as a critical habitat for marine mammals. Here we present a full...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b https://doaj.org/article/5ab40458b606458b90da9667c4f53cb7 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5ab40458b606458b90da9667c4f53cb7 2024-02-11T10:00:52+01:00 Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 Sarah W Cooley Jonathan C Ryan 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b https://doaj.org/article/5ab40458b606458b90da9667c4f53cb7 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/5ab40458b606458b90da9667c4f53cb7 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 19, Iss 2, p 024013 (2024) Alaska landfast ice Arctic climate change remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b 2024-01-21T01:35:41Z Landfast sea ice that forms along the Arctic coastline is of great importance to coastal Alaskan communities. It provides a stable platform for transportation and traditional activities, protects the coastline from erosion, and serves as a critical habitat for marine mammals. Here we present a full assessment of landfast ice conditions across a continuous 7885 km length of the Alaska coastline over 2000–2022 using satellite imagery. We find that the maximum landfast ice extent, usually occurring in March, averaged 67 002 km ^2 during our study period: equivalent to 4% of the state’s land area. The maximum extent of landfast ice, however, exhibits considerable interannual variability, from a minimum of 29 871 km ^2 in 2019 to a maximum of 87 571 km ^2 in 2010. Likewise, the landfast ice edge position averages 22.9 km from the coastline but, at the community-scale, can range from 2.8 km (in Gambell) to 71.1 km (in Deering). Landfast ice breakup date averages 2 June but also varies considerably both between communities (3 May in Quinhagak to 24 July in Nuiqsut) and interannually. We identify a strong control of air temperature on breakup timing and use this relationship to project future losses of ice associated with Paris Climate Agreement targets. Under 2 °C of global air temperature warming, we estimate the average Alaskan coastal community will lose 19 days of ice, with the northernmost communities projected to lose 50 days or more. Overall, our results emphasize the highly localized nature of landfast ice processes and the vulnerability of coastal Arctic communities in a warming climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Sea ice Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Environmental Research Letters 19 2 024013 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Alaska landfast ice Arctic climate change remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Alaska landfast ice Arctic climate change remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Sarah W Cooley Jonathan C Ryan Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 |
topic_facet |
Alaska landfast ice Arctic climate change remote sensing Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Landfast sea ice that forms along the Arctic coastline is of great importance to coastal Alaskan communities. It provides a stable platform for transportation and traditional activities, protects the coastline from erosion, and serves as a critical habitat for marine mammals. Here we present a full assessment of landfast ice conditions across a continuous 7885 km length of the Alaska coastline over 2000–2022 using satellite imagery. We find that the maximum landfast ice extent, usually occurring in March, averaged 67 002 km ^2 during our study period: equivalent to 4% of the state’s land area. The maximum extent of landfast ice, however, exhibits considerable interannual variability, from a minimum of 29 871 km ^2 in 2019 to a maximum of 87 571 km ^2 in 2010. Likewise, the landfast ice edge position averages 22.9 km from the coastline but, at the community-scale, can range from 2.8 km (in Gambell) to 71.1 km (in Deering). Landfast ice breakup date averages 2 June but also varies considerably both between communities (3 May in Quinhagak to 24 July in Nuiqsut) and interannually. We identify a strong control of air temperature on breakup timing and use this relationship to project future losses of ice associated with Paris Climate Agreement targets. Under 2 °C of global air temperature warming, we estimate the average Alaskan coastal community will lose 19 days of ice, with the northernmost communities projected to lose 50 days or more. Overall, our results emphasize the highly localized nature of landfast ice processes and the vulnerability of coastal Arctic communities in a warming climate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sarah W Cooley Jonathan C Ryan |
author_facet |
Sarah W Cooley Jonathan C Ryan |
author_sort |
Sarah W Cooley |
title |
Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 |
title_short |
Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 |
title_full |
Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 |
title_fullStr |
Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of Alaska over 2000-2022 |
title_sort |
community-scale changes to landfast ice along the coast of alaska over 2000-2022 |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b https://doaj.org/article/5ab40458b606458b90da9667c4f53cb7 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Sea ice Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Sea ice Alaska |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 19, Iss 2, p 024013 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/5ab40458b606458b90da9667c4f53cb7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad1c7b |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
024013 |
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1790596591438004224 |