The Arctic Coastal Dynamics Database:A New Classification Scheme and Statistics on Arctic Permafrost Coastlines

• Published in: Estuaries and Coasts
• Main Authors: Lantuit, Hugues, Overduin, Pier Paul, Couture, Nicole, Wetterich, Sebastian, Are, Felix, Atkinson, David, Brown, Jerry, Cherkashov, Georgy, Drozdov, Dmitry, Forbes, Donald Lawrence, Graves-Gaylord, Allison, Grigoriev, Mikhail, Hubberten, Hans-Wolfgang, Jordan, James, Jorgenson, Torre, Odegard, Rune Strand, Ogorodov, Stanislav, Pollard, Wayne H., Rachold, Volker, Sedenko, Sergey, Solomon, Steve, Steenhuisen, Frits, Streletskaya, Irina, Vasiliev, Alexander
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Coast; Permafrost; Erosion; Carbon cycle; SOUTHERN BEAUFORT SEA; ORGANIC-CARBON; YUKON-TERRITORY; HERSCHEL ISLAND; LEVEL RISE; SEDIMENT; CANADA; REGION; SHORELINE; Arctic Ocean; Beaufort Sea; Herschel; Herschel Island; Ice; laptev; permafrost; Yukon
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/1c13f842-e7e0-4e4b-ab3c-e43f1369aa57; https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/1c13f842-e7e0-4e4b-ab3c-e43f1369aa57; https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9362-6

Arctic permafrost coasts are sensitive to changing climate. The lengthening open water season and the increasing open water area are likely to induce greater erosion and threaten community and industry infrastructure as well as dramatically change nutrient pathways in the near-shore zone. The shallow, mediterranean Arctic Ocean is likely to be strongly affected by changes in currently poorly observed arctic coastal dynamics. We present a geomorphological classification scheme for the arctic coast, with 101,447 km of coastline in 1,315 segments. The average rate of erosion for the arctic coast is 0.5 m year(-1) with high local and regional variability. Highest rates are observed in the Laptev, East Siberian, and Beaufort Seas. Strong spatial variability in associated database bluff height, ground carbon and ice content, and coastline movement highlights the need to estimate the relative importance of shifting coastal fluxes to the Arctic Ocean at multiple spatial scales.