The impact of climate change on Arctic coastal erosion

English Abstract:

The Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) project is an effort sponsored by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) to better understand coastal processes in the circum-Arctic by focussing on the physical properties of the coast and some of the major environmental forcings that affect it. The presence of ice along Arctic coasts -- both in the form of sea ice and of ground ice within permafrost -- results in conditions and processes that differ greatly from what is found in more temperate regions. ACD’s primary goal was to assess the sensitivity and erosion potential of over 100,000 km of Arctic coastline. Two other initiatives sponsored by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) both fed into and were inspired by the ACD project. These focus on characterization and mapping of northern coasts at a Canada-wide scale (CanCoast) and a regional level (GSC Coastal Information System). All three provide a basis for classification and mapping of shore-zone topography, geomorphology, composition and exposure in relation to relative sea-level trends, atmospheric and oceanographic forcing, sea-ice conditions, and other aspects of the physical setting. Here, we present the methodology used for classification at the various scales and some of the insights emerging from these efforts. These include the regional variability of erosion rates and carbon input to the Arctic Ocean on a circumpolar basis (Lantuit et al. 2012) and the geographic variability in coastal sensitivity to climate change across the Canadian Arctic.