TY - THES A1 - Lantuit, Hugues T1 - The modification of arctic permafrost coastlines T1 - Die Veränderung der arktischen Permafrostküstenlinien N2 - The arctic region is undergoing the most rapid environmental change experienced on Earth, and the rate of change is expected to increase over the coming decades. Arctic coasts are particularly vulnerable because they lie at the interface between terrestrial systems dominated by permafrost and marine systems dominated by sea ice. An increased rise in sea level and degradation of sea-ice as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its most recent report and as observed recently in the Arctic will likely result in greater rates of coastal retreat. An increase in coastal erosion would result in dramatic increases in the volume of sediment, organic carbon and contaminants to the Arctic Ocean. These in turn have the potential to create dramatic changes in the geochemistry and biodiversity of the nearshore zone and affect the Arctic Ocean carbon cycle. To calculate estimates of organic carbon input from coastal erosion to the Arctic Ocean, current methods rely on the length of the coastline in the form of non self-similar line datasets. This thesis however emphasizes that using shorelines drawn at different scales can induce changes in the amount of sediment released by 30% in some cases. It proposes a substitute method of computations of erosion based on areas instead of lengths (i.e. buffers instead of shoreline lengths) which can be easily implemented at the circum-Arctic scale. Using this method, variations in quantities of eroded sediment are, on average, 70% less affected by scale changes and are therefore a more reliable method of calculation. Current estimates of coastal erosion rates in the Arctic are scarce and long-term datasets are a handful, which complicates assessment and prognosis of coastal processes, in particular the occurrence of coastal hazards. This thesis aims at filling the gap by providing the first long-term dataset (1951-2006) of coastal erosion on the Bykovsky Peninsula, North-East Siberia. This study shows that the coastline, which is made of ice-rich permafrost, retreated at a mean annual rate of 0.59 m/yr between 1951and 2006. Rates were highly variable: 97.0 % of the rates observed were less than 2 m/yr and 81.6% were less than 1m/yr. However, no significant trend in erosion could be recorded despite the study of five temporal subperiods within 1951-2006. The juxtaposition of wind records could not help to explain erosion records either and this thesis emphasizes the local controls on erosion, in particular the cryostratigraphy, the proximity of the Peninsula to the Lena River Delta freshwater plume and the local topographical constraints on swell development. On ice-rich coastal stretches of the Artic, the interaction of coastal dynamics and permafrost leads to the occurrence of spectacular “C-shaped” depressions termed retrogressive thaw slumps which can reach lengths of up to 650 m. On Herschel Island and at King Point (Yukon Coastal Plain, northern Canada), topographical, sedimentological and biogeochemical surveys were conducted to investigate the present and past activity of these landforms. In particular, undisturbed tundra areas were compared with zones of former slump activity, now stabilized and re-vegetated. This thesis shows that stabilized areas are drier and less prone to plant growth than undisturbed areas and feature fundamentally different geotechnical properties. Radiocarbon dating and topographical surveys indicated until up to 300 BP a likely period of dramatic slump activity on Herschel Island, similar to the one currently observed, which led to the creation of these surfaces. This thesis hypothesizes the occurrence of a ~250 years cycle of slump activity on the Herschel Island shoreline based on the surveyed topography and cryostratigraphy and anticipates higher frequency of slump activity in the future. The variety of processes described in this thesis highlights the changing nature of the intensity and frequency of physical processes acting upon the arctic coast. It also challenges current perceptions of the threats to existing industry and community infrastructure in the Arctic. The increasing presence of humans on Artic coasts coupled with the expected development of shipping will drive an increase in economical and industrial activity on these coasts which remains to be addressed scientifically. N2 - In der Arktis sind die derzeit stärksten Umweltänderungen weltweit zu beobachten, und es wird angenommen, dass sich deren Ausmaß sogar noch verstärken wird. Aufgrund ihrer Lage zwischen terrestrischen, von Permafrost geprägten Systemen und marinen, von Meereis geprägten Systemen, sind arktische Küstenregionen im Zuge dieses Wandels besonders sensibel. Ein verstärkter Meeresspiegelanstieg und der Rückgang des Meereises, wie vom letzten Bericht des Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) vorhergesagt und in letzter Zeit in der Arktis beobachtet, werden zu erhöhten Küstenrückzugsraten führen. Ein Anstieg der Küstenerosion würde zu einer drastischen Erhöhung von Sedimentfracht, organischem Kohlenstoff und von Schadstoffen im Arktischen Ozean führen. Durch diese wiederum drohen dramatische Änderungen in der Geochemie und Biodiversität der küstennahen Zone sowie Veränderungen im Kohlenstoffkreislauf des Arktischen Ozeans. Modelle zur Berechnung des Eintrags organischen Kohlenstoffs in den Arktischen Ozean infolge von Küstenerosion basieren auf der Länge der Küstenlinie in Form von „non self-similar“ Datensätzen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt jedoch, dass die Nutzung von Küstenlinien unterschiedlicher Maßstäbe Abweichungen in der berechneten Sedimentfracht von bis zu 30 % zur Folge haben kann. Es wird daher eine alternative Methode zur Berechnung von Erosionsraten vorgeschlagen, die auf Flächen, nicht auf Längenangaben basiert (z.B. Pufferzonen anstelle von Küstenlinien) und die auf einfache Art und Weise für die Zirkum-Arktis angewandt werden kann. Durch diese Methode ist die Variation der berechneten Erosionsmengen um durchschnittlich 70 % weniger von Maßstabsänderungen betroffen. Damit kann eine deutlich höhere Zuverlässigkeit in den Prognosen erreicht werden. Aktuelle Abschätzungen von Küstenerosionsraten in der Arktis sind spärlich und es gibt nur sehr wenige Langzeitdatensätze, so dass Einschätzungen und Prognosen zu Prozessen im Küstenbereich, insbesondere von dessen Gefährdung, schwierig sind. Die vorliegende Arbeit soll dazu beigetragen, diese Lücke zu schließen, indem der erste Langzeitdatensatz (1951-2006) zu Küstenerosionsraten auf der Bykovsky Halbinsel in Nordost-Sibirien bereitgestellt wird. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass die Küstenlinie auf der Bykovsky Halbinsel, die durch eisreichen Permafrost geprägt ist, im Zeitraum 1951-2006 um durchschnittlich 0,59 m pro Jahr zurückging. Die Rückzugsraten waren dabei äußerst variabel: 97 % aller ermittelten Raten betrugen weniger als 2 m und 81,6 % weniger als 1 m pro Jahr. Ein signifikanter Trend in den Erosionsraten konnte dabei jedoch trotz Analyse von fünf verschiedenen zeitlichen Epochen nicht festgestellt werden. Auch die Gegenüberstellung von Winddatensätzen kann die Erosionsraten nicht erklären. Deshalb stellt diese Arbeit die Bedeutung lokaler Kontrollmechanismen wie Kryostratigraphie, die Nähe der Bykovsky Halbinsel zum Lena-Delta und seinen Süßwasservorkommen sowie die lokale Topographie und deren Einfluss auf Wellengang und Wellenbildung heraus. Innerhalb eisreicher arktischer Küstenabschnitte führt die Interaktion zwischen Küstendynamik und Permafrost zur Ausprägung eindrucksvoller, „C-förmiger“ Depressionen, sogenannten regressiven auftaubedingten Rutschungen, die Längen von bis zu 650 m erreichen können. Auf Herschel Island und am King Point (Yukon Küste, Nordkanada) wurden topographische, sedimentologische und biogeochemische Aufnahmen durchgeführt, um die rezente und vergangene Dynamik dieser Landschaftsformen nachvollziehen zu können. Insbesondere wurden ungestörte Tundrenareale mit ehemals aktiven Rutschungszonen, die heute stabil und wiederbewachsen sind, verglichen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, dass diese ehemaligen, heute stabilisierten Rutschungszonen trockenere und für Pflanzenwachstum weniger geeignete Standorte darstellen als ungestörte Bereiche und überdies fundamental andere geotechnische Eigenschaften aufweisen. Radiocarbon-Datierungen und topographische Aufnahmen weisen darauf hin, dass es auf Herschel Island und am King Point bis vor 300 Jahren eine Periode ausgeprägter, auftaubedingter Rutschungsaktivitäten ähnlich denen, die derzeit auf der Insel beobachtet werden können, gegeben haben muss, die zur Ausbildung dieser Oberflächenstrukturen geführt haben. Diese Arbeit stellt auf Grundlage der untersuchten Topographie und Kryostratigraphie die Hypothese auf, dass an der Küstenlinie von Herschel Island ein etwa 250-jähriger Zyklus von Rutschungsaktivitäten existiert und antizipiert eine höhere Frequenz im Auftreten dieser Rutschungsaktivitäten für die Zukunft. Die Vielfalt an Faktoren, die in dieser Arbeit beschrieben wurden, hebt die veränderte Intensität und Frequenz der auf arktische Küsten einwirkenden physikalischen Prozesse hervor. Dadurch werden auch aktuelle Auffassungen zur Bedrohung bestehender Industrie und Infrastruktur in der Arktis hinterfragt. Im Zusammenhang mit dem erwarteten Ausbau der Schifffahrt treibt der zunehmende anthropogene Einfluss die ökonomische und industrielle Entwicklung in arktischen Küstenregionen an, die Gegenstand einer wissenschaftlichen Betrachtung sein sollten. KW - Permafrost KW - Arktis KW - Küstenerosion KW - Thermokarst KW - permafrost KW - arctic KW - coastal erosion KW - thermokarst Y1 - 2008 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-19732 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rolph, Rebecca A1 - Overduin, Pier Paul A1 - Ravens, Thomas A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Langer, Moritz T1 - ArcticBeach v1.0 BT - a physics-based parameterization of pan-Arctic coastline erosion JF - Frontiers in Earth Science N2 - In the Arctic, air temperatures are increasing and sea ice is declining, resulting in larger waves and a longer open water season, all of which intensify the thaw and erosion of ice-rich coasts. Climate change has been shown to increase the rate of Arctic coastal erosion, causing problems for Arctic cultural heritage, existing industrial, military, and civil infrastructure, as well as changes in nearshore biogeochemistry. Numerical models that reproduce historical and project future Arctic erosion rates are necessary to understand how further climate change will affect these problems, and no such model yet exists to simulate the physics of erosion on a pan-Arctic scale. We have coupled a bathystrophic storm surge model to a simplified physical erosion model of a permafrost coastline. This Arctic erosion model, called ArcticBeach v1.0, is a first step toward a physical parameterization of Arctic shoreline erosion for larger-scale models. It is forced by wind speed and direction, wave period and height, sea surface temperature, all of which are masked during times of sea ice cover near the coastline. Model tuning requires observed historical retreat rates (at least one value), as well as rough nearshore bathymetry. These parameters are already available on a pan-Arctic scale. The model is validated at three study sites at 1) Drew Point (DP), Alaska, 2) Mamontovy Khayata (MK), Siberia, and 3) Veslebogen Cliffs, Svalbard. Simulated cumulative retreat rates for DP and MK respectively (169 and 170 m) over the time periods studied at each site (2007-2016, and 1995-2018) are found to the same order of magnitude as observed cumulative retreat (172 and 120 m). The rocky Veslebogen cliffs have small observed cumulative retreat rates (0.05 m over 2014-2016), and our model was also able to reproduce this same order of magnitude of retreat (0.08 m). Given the large differences in geomorphology between the study sites, this study provides a proof-of-concept that ArcticBeach v1.0 can be applied on very different permafrost coastlines. ArcticBeach v1.0 provides a promising starting point to project retreat of Arctic shorelines, or to evaluate historical retreat in places that have had few observations. KW - permafrost KW - erosion KW - modelling KW - arctic KW - climate change Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.962208 SN - 2296-6463 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tanski, George A1 - Bergstedt, Helena A1 - Bevington, Alexandre A1 - Bonnaventure, Philip A1 - Bouchard, Frederic A1 - Coch, Caroline A1 - Dumais, Simon A1 - Evgrafova, Alevtina A1 - Frauenfeld, Oliver W. A1 - Frederick, Jennifer A1 - Fritz, Michael A1 - Frolov, Denis A1 - Harder, Silvie A1 - Hartmeyer, Ingo A1 - Heslop, Joanne A1 - Hoegstroem, Elin A1 - Johansson, Margareta A1 - Kraev, Gleb A1 - Kuznetsova, Elena A1 - Lenz, Josefine A1 - Lupachev, Alexey A1 - Magnin, Florence A1 - Martens, Jannik A1 - Maslakov, Alexey A1 - Morgenstern, Anne A1 - Nieuwendam, Alexandre A1 - Oliva, Marc A1 - Radosavljevi, Boris A1 - Ramage, Justine Lucille A1 - Schneider, Andrea A1 - Stanilovskaya, Julia A1 - Strauss, Jens A1 - Trochim, Erin A1 - Vecellio, Daniel J. A1 - Weber, Samuel A1 - Lantuit, Hugues T1 - The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) is getting older BT - The past, present, and future of our evolving community JF - Polar record N2 - A lasting legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008 was the promotion of the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN), initially an IPY outreach and education activity by the International Permafrost Association (IPA). With the momentum of IPY, PYRN developed into a thriving network that still connects young permafrost scientists, engineers, and researchers from other disciplines. This research note summarises (1) PYRN’s development since 2005 and the IPY’s role, (2) the first 2015 PYRN census and survey results, and (3) PYRN’s future plans to improve international and interdisciplinary exchange between young researchers. The review concludes that PYRN is an established network within the polar research community that has continually developed since 2005. PYRN’s successful activities were largely fostered by IPY. With >200 of the 1200 registered members active and engaged, PYRN is capitalising on the availability of social media tools and rising to meet environmental challenges while maintaining its role as a successful network honouring the legacy of IPY. KW - Early-career scientists KW - Education KW - IPY KW - International Polar Year KW - Outreach KW - Permafrost Young Researchers Network KW - PYRN KW - Science communication Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247418000645 SN - 0032-2474 SN - 1475-3057 VL - 55 IS - 4 SP - 216 EP - 219 PB - Cambridge Univ. Press CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wolter, Juliane A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Wetterich, Sebastian A1 - Rethemeyer, J. A1 - Fritz, Michael T1 - Climatic, geomorphologic and hydrologic perturbations as drivers for mid- to late Holocene development of ice-wedge polygons in the western Canadian Arctic JF - Permafrost and Periglacial Processes N2 - Ice-wedge polygons are widespread periglacial features and influence landscape hydrology and carbon storage. The influence of climate and topography on polygon development is not entirely clear, however, giving high uncertainties to projections of permafrost development. We studied the mid- to late Holocene development of modern ice-wedge polygon sites to explore drivers of change and reasons for long-term stability. We analyzed organic carbon, total nitrogen, stable carbon isotopes, grain size composition and plant macrofossils in six cores from three polygons. We found that ail sites developed from aquatic to wetland conditions. In the mid-Holocene, shallow lakes and partly submerged ice-wedge polygons existed at the studied sites. An erosional hiatus of ca 5000 years followed, and ice-wedge polygons re-initiated within the last millennium. Ice-wedge melt and surface drying during the last century were linked to climatic warming. The influence of climate on ice-wedge polygon development was outweighed by geomorphology during most of the late Holocene. Recent warming, however, caused ice-wedge degradation at all sites. Our study showed that where waterlogged ground was maintained, low-centered polygons persisted for millennia. Ice-wedge melt and increased drainage through geomorphic disturbance, however, triggered conversion into high-centered polygons and may lead to self-enhancing degradation under continued warming. KW - carbon KW - lowland coasts KW - permafrost degradation KW - plant macrofossil analysis KW - tundra vegetation KW - western Canadian Arctic Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp.1977 SN - 1045-6740 SN - 1099-1530 VL - 29 IS - 3 SP - 164 EP - 181 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fritz, Michael A1 - Unkel, Ingmar A1 - Lenz, Josefine A1 - Gajewski, Konrad A1 - Frenzel, Peter A1 - Paquette, Nathalie A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Körte, Lisa A1 - Wetterich, Sebastian T1 - Regional environmental change versus local signal preservation in Holocene thermokarst lake sediments BT - a case study from Herschel Island, Yukon (Canada) JF - Journal of paleolimnolog N2 - Thermokarst lakes cover nearly one fourth of ice-rich permafrost lowlands in the Arctic. Sediments from an athalassic subsaline thermokarst lake on Herschel Island (69°36′N; 139°04′W, Canadian Arctic) were used to understand regional changes in climate and in sediment transport, hydrology, nutrient availability and permafrost disturbance. The sediment record spans the last ~ 11,700 years and the basal date is in good agreement with the Holocene onset of thermokarst initiation in the region. Electrical conductivity in pore water continuously decreases, thus indicating desalinization and continuous increase of lake size and water level. The inc/coh ratio of XRF scans provides a high-resolution organic-carbon proxy which correlates with TOC measurements. XRF-derived Mn/Fe ratios indicate aerobic versus anaerobic conditions which moderate the preservation potential of organic matter in lake sediments. The coexistence of marine, brackish and freshwater ostracods and foraminifera is explained by (1) oligohaline to mesohaline water chemistry of the past lake and (2) redeposition of Pleistocene specimens found within upthrusted marine sediments around the lake. Episodes of catchment disturbance are identified when calcareous fossils and allochthonous material were transported into the lake by thermokarst processes such as active-layer detachments, slumping and erosion of ice-rich shores. The pollen record does not show major variations and the pollen-based climate record does not match well with other summer air temperature reconstructions from this region. Local vegetation patterns in small catchments are strongly linked to morphology and sub-surface permafrost conditions rather than to climate. Multidisciplinary studies can identify the onset and life cycle of thermokarst lakes as they play a crucial role in Arctic freshwater ecosystems and in the global carbon cycle of the past, present and future. KW - Arctic KW - Permafrost KW - Athalassic subsaline lake KW - XRF scanning KW - Pore-water hydrochemistry KW - Ostracoda Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-018-0025-0 SN - 0921-2728 SN - 1573-0417 VL - 60 IS - 1 SP - 77 EP - 96 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stettner, Samuel A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Heim, Birgit A1 - Eppler, Jayson A1 - Roth, Achim A1 - Bartsch, Annett A1 - Rabus, Bernhard T1 - TerraSAR-X time series fill a gap in spaceborne snowmelt monitoring of small arctic catchments BT - a case study on qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island), Canada JF - Remote sensing N2 - The timing of snowmelt is an important turning point in the seasonal cycle of small Arctic catchments. The TerraSAR-X (TSX) satellite mission is a synthetic aperture radar system (SAR) with high potential to measure the high spatiotemporal variability of snow cover extent (SCE) and fractional snow cover (FSC) on the small catchment scale. We investigate the performance of multi-polarized and multi-pass TSX X-Band SAR data in monitoring SCE and FSC in small Arctic tundra catchments of Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island) off the Yukon Coast in the Western Canadian Arctic. We applied a threshold based segmentation on ratio images between TSX images with wet snow and a dry snow reference, and tested the performance of two different thresholds. We quantitatively compared TSX- and Landsat 8-derived SCE maps using confusion matrices and analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics of snowmelt from 2015 to 2017 using TSX, Landsat 8 and in situ time lapse data. Our data showed that the quality of SCE maps from TSX X-Band data is strongly influenced by polarization and to a lesser degree by incidence angle. VH polarized TSX data performed best in deriving SCE when compared to Landsat 8. TSX derived SCE maps from VH polarization detected late lying snow patches that were not detected by Landsat 8. Results of a local assessment of TSX FSC against the in situ data showed that TSX FSC accurately captured the temporal dynamics of different snow melt regimes that were related to topographic characteristics of the studied catchments. Both in situ and TSX FSC showed a longer snowmelt period in a catchment with higher contributions of steep valleys and a shorter snowmelt period in a catchment with higher contributions of upland terrain. Landsat 8 had fundamental data gaps during the snowmelt period in all 3 years due to cloud cover. The results also revealed that by choosing a positive threshold of 1 dB, detection of ice layers due to diurnal temperature variations resulted in a more accurate estimation of snow cover than a negative threshold that detects wet snow alone. We find that TSX X-Band data in VH polarization performs at a comparable quality to Landsat 8 in deriving SCE maps when a positive threshold is used. We conclude that TSX data polarization can be used to accurately monitor snowmelt events at high temporal and spatial resolution, overcoming limitations of Landsat 8, which due to cloud related data gaps generally only indicated the onset and end of snowmelt. KW - Snow Cover Extent (SCE) KW - TerraSAR-X KW - Landsat KW - wet snow KW - small Arctic catchments KW - satellite time series Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10071155 SN - 2072-4292 VL - 10 IS - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Irrgang, Anna Maria A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Manson, Gavin K. A1 - Günther, Frank A1 - Grosse, Guido A1 - Overduin, Pier Paul T1 - Variability in rates of coastal change along the Yukon Coast, 1951 to 2015 JF - Journal of geophysical research : Earth surface N2 - To better understand the reaction of Arctic coasts to increasing environmental pressure, coastal changes along a 210-km length of the Yukon Territory coast in north-west Canada were investigated. Shoreline positions were acquired from aerial and satellite images between 1951 and 2011. Shoreline change rates were calculated for multiple time periods along the entire coast and at six key sites. Additionally, Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) measurements of shoreline positions from seven field sites were used to analyze coastal dynamics from 1991 to 2015 at higher spatial resolution. The whole coast has a consistent, spatially averaged mean rate of shoreline change of 0.7 +/- 0.2 m/a with a general trend of decreasing erosion from west to east. Additional data from six key sites shows that the mean shoreline change rate decreased from -1.3 +/- 0.8 (1950s-1970s) to -0.5 +/- 0.6 m/a (1970s-1990s). This was followed by a significant increase in shoreline change to -1.3 +/- 0.3 m/a in the 1990s to 2011. This increase is confirmed by DGPS measurements that indicate increased erosion rates at local rates up to -8.9 m/a since 2006. Ground surveys and observations with remote sensing data indicate that the current rate of shoreline retreat along some parts of the Yukon coast is higher than at any time before in the 64-year-long observation record. Enhanced availability of material in turn might favor the buildup of gravel features, which have been growing in extent throughout the last six decades. Plain Language Summary The Arctic is warming, but the impacts on its coasts are not well documented. To better understand the reaction of Arctic coasts to increasing environmental pressure, shoreline position changes along a 210-km length of the Yukon Territory coast in northwest Canada were investigated for the time period from 1951 to 2015. Shoreline positions were extracted from historical aerial images from the 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s and from satellite images from 2011. Additionally, measurements of shoreline positions from field sites were used to analyze coastal dynamics from 1991 to 2015. The mean shoreline change rate was -1.3 m/a between the 1950s and 1970s and followed by a decrease to -0.5 m/a between the 1970s to 1990s. This was followed by a significant increase in mean shoreline change rates again to -1.3 m/a in the 1990s to 2011 time period. This acceleration in erosion is confirmed by field measurements that indicate increased erosion rates at high local rates up to -8.9 m/a since 2006. Enhanced coastal erosion might, in turn, favor the buildup of gravel features, which have been growing in extent throughout the last six decades. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JF004326 SN - 2169-9003 SN - 2169-9011 VL - 123 IS - 4 SP - 779 EP - 800 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Obu, Jaroslav A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Fritz, Michael A1 - Pollard, Wayne H. A1 - Sachs, Torsten A1 - Guenther, Frank T1 - Relation between planimetric and volumetric measurements of permafrost coast erosion: a case study from Herschel Island, western Canadian Arctic JF - Polar research : a Norwegian journal of Polar research N2 - Ice-rich permafrost coasts often undergo rapid erosion, which results in land loss and release of considerable amounts of sediment, organic carbon and nutrients, impacting the near-shore ecosystems. Because of the lack of volumetric erosion data, Arctic coastal erosion studies typically report on planimetric erosion. Our aim is to explore the relationship between planimetric and volumetric coastal erosion measurements and to update the coastal erosion rates on Herschel Island in the Canadian Arctic. We used high-resolution digital elevation models to compute sediment release and compare volumetric data to planimetric estimations of coastline movements digitized from satellite imagery. Our results show that volumetric erosion is locally less variable and likely corresponds better with environmental forcing than planimetric erosion. Average sediment release volumes are in the same range as sediment release volumes calculated from coastline movements combined with cliff height. However, the differences between these estimates are significant for small coastal sections. We attribute the differences between planimetric and volumetric coastal erosion measurements to mass wasting, which is abundant along the coasts of Herschel Island. The average recorded coastline retreat on Herschel Island was 0.68m a(-1) for the period 2000-2011. Erosion rates increased by more than 50% in comparison with the period 1970-2000, which is in accordance with a recently observed increase along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. The estimated annual sediment release was 28.2 m(3) m(-1) with resulting fluxes of 590 kg C m(-1) and 104 kg N m(-1). KW - Coastal erosion KW - LiDAR KW - carbon fluxes KW - mass wasting KW - landslides KW - digital elevation model Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.30313 SN - 0800-0395 SN - 1751-8369 VL - 35 SP - 57 EP - 99 PB - Co-Action Publ. CY - Jarfalla ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ramage, Justine Lucille A1 - Irrgang, Anna Maria A1 - Morgenstern, Anne A1 - Lantuit, Hugues T1 - Increasing coastal slump activity impacts the release of sediment and organic carbon into the Arctic Ocean JF - Biogeosciences N2 - Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTSs) are among the most active thermokarst landforms in the Arctic and deliver a large amount of material to the Arctic Ocean. However, their contribution to the organic carbon (OC) budget is unknown. We provide the first estimate of the contribution of RTSs to the nearshore OC budget of the Yukon Coast, Canada, and describe the evolution of coastal RTSs between 1952 and 2011 in this area. We (1) describe the evolution of RTSs between 1952 and 2011; (2) calculate the volume of eroded material and stocks of OC mobilized through slumping, including soil organic carbon (SOC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC); and (3) estimate the OC fluxes mobilized through slumping between 1972 and 2011. We identified RTSs using high- resolution satellite imagery from 2011 and geocoded aerial photographs from 1952 and 1972. To estimate the volume of eroded material, we applied spline interpolation on an airborne lidar dataset acquired in July 2013. We inferred the stocks of mobilized SOC and DOC from existing related literature. Our results show a 73% increase in the number of RTSs and 14% areal expansion between 1952 and 2011. In the study area, RTSs displaced at least 16.6 x 10(6) m(3) of material, 53% of which was ice, and mobilized 145.9 x 10(6) kg of OC. Between 1972 and 2011, 49 RTSs displaced 8.6 x 10(3) m(3) yr(-1) of material, adding 0.6% to the OC flux released by coastal retreat along the Yukon Coast. Our results show that the contribution of RTSs to the nearshore OC budget is non-negligible and should be included when estimating the quantity of OC released from the Arctic coast to the ocean. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-1483-2018 SN - 1726-4170 SN - 1726-4189 VL - 15 IS - 5 SP - 1483 EP - 1495 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Couture, Nicole J. A1 - Irrgang, Anna Maria A1 - Pollard, Wayne A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Fritz, Michael T1 - Coastal erosion of permafrost soils along the yukon coastal plain and fluxes of organic carbon to the canadian beaufort sea JF - Journal of geophysical research : Biogeosciences N2 - Reducing uncertainties about carbon cycling is important in the Arctic where rapid environmental changes contribute to enhanced mobilization of carbon. Here we quantify soil organic carbon (SOC) contents of permafrost soils along the Yukon Coastal Plain and determine the annual fluxes from coastal erosion. Different terrain units were assessed based on surficial geology, morphology, and ground ice conditions. To account for the volume of wedge ice and massive ice in a unit, SOC contents were reduced by 19% and sediment contents by 16%. The SOC content in a 1m(2) column of soil varied according to the height of the bluff, ranging from 30 to 662kg, with a mean value of 183kg. Forty-four per cent of the SOC was within the top 1m of soil and values varied based on surficial materials, ranging from 30 to 53kg C/m(3), with a mean of 41kg. Eighty per cent of the shoreline was erosive with a mean annual rate of change of -0.7m/yr. This resulted in a SOC flux per meter of shoreline of 132kg C/m/yr, and a total flux for the entire 282km of the Yukon coast of 35.5 x 10(6) kg C/yr (0.036 Tg C/yr). The mean flux of sediment per meter of shoreline was 5.3 x 10(3) kg/m/yr, with a total flux of 1,832 x 10(6)kg/yr (1.832 Tg/yr). Sedimentation rates indicate that approximately 13% of the eroded carbon was sequestered in nearshore sediments, where the overwhelming majority of organic carbon was of terrestrial origin. Plain Language Summary The oceans help slow the buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) because they absorb much of this greenhouse gas. However, if carbon from other sources is added to the oceans, it can affect their ability to absorb atmospheric CO2. Our study examines the organic carbon added to the Canadian Beaufort Sea from eroding permafrost along the Yukon coast, a region quite vulnerable to erosion. Understanding carbon cycling in this area is important because environmental changes in the Arctic such as longer open water seasons, rising sea levels, and warmer air, water and soil temperatures are likely to increase coastal erosion and, thus, carbon fluxes to the sea. We measured the carbon in different types of permafrost soils and applied corrections to account for the volume taken up by various types of ground ice. By determining how quickly the shoreline is eroding, we assessed how much organic carbon is being transferred to the ocean each year. Our results show that 36 x 10(6) kg of carbon is added annually from this section of the coast. If we extrapolate these results to other coastal areas along the Canadian Beaufort Sea, the flux of organic carbon is nearly 3 times what was previously thought. KW - coastal erosion KW - organic carbon KW - ground ice KW - Yukon KW - Canadian Beaufort Sea Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JG004166 SN - 2169-8953 SN - 2169-8961 VL - 123 IS - 2 SP - 406 EP - 422 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER -