Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Erosion along the Elson Lagoon Coastline near Barrow, Alaska (2002-2011)

摘要

As a contribution to the Arctic Coastal Dynamics program and the International Polar Year, this study updates the decade-long time series of erosion surveys made along 10.7 km of the Elson Lagoon on the Beaufort Sea coast of northern Alaska near Barrow. Seasonal erosion rates are calculated from repeat ground surveys of the 2-4-m-high coastal bluffs using a differential global positioning System (DGPS). Rates of erosion, which averaged 1-4 meters per year from 2003 to 2011, are lower than other areas of the Beaufort Sea coast that lack protective barrier islands but higher than historic decadal-scale rates for this site. Since 2003, 16.72 ha of land eroded from the study site. Regression analyses indicated no significant change to the rate of erosion during the past decade. Analyses of our seasonal data indicate that rates of erosion are higher in summer survey periods when losses are normalized to the number of ice-free days.