Long‐term rates of mass wasting in Mesters Vig, northeast Greenland: notes on a re‐survey

• Published in: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Main Authors: Steve Carver, Naja Mikkelsen, John Woodward
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Greenland; Mesters Vig; Washburn
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.421

Re‐surveys of surviving mass‐wasting target lines established by A.L. Washburn in the late 1950s in the Mesters Vig area, northeast Greenland, are used to derive estimates of long‐term mass wasting in the area. Rates of 2.9–8.1 cm.yr−1 are calculated for a 2.5–3° slope and 1.5–30.4 cm.yr−1 for a gelifluction lobe on a 15–23° slope. Compared to Washburn's short‐term measurements for the same sites these long‐term rates suggest a general increase in the rate of mass wasting in the Mesters Vig area over the last 40 years. This increase may be related to a general pattern of climatic amelioration for the east coast of Greenland. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.