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 - Klein, Konstantin A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Rolph, Rebecca T1 - Drivers of Turbidity and Its Seasonal Variability at Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk (Western Canadian Arctic) JF - Water / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) N2 - The Arctic is greatly affected by climate change. Increasing air temperatures drive permafrost thaw and an increase in coastal erosion and river discharge. This results in a greater input of sediment and organic matter into nearshore waters, impacting ecosystems by reducing light transmission through the water column and altering biogeochemistry. This potentially results in impacts on the subsistence economy of local people as well as the climate due to the transformation of suspended organic matter into greenhouse gases. Even though the impacts of increased suspended sediment concentrations and turbidity in the Arctic nearshore zone are well-studied, the mechanisms underpinning this increase are largely unknown. Wave energy and tides drive the level of turbidity in the temperate and tropical parts of the world, and this is generally assumed to also be the case in the Arctic. However, the tidal range is considerably lower in the Arctic, and processes related to the occurrence of permafrost have the potential to greatly contribute to nearshore turbidity. In this study, we use high-resolution satellite imagery alongside in situ and ERA5 reanalysis data of ocean and climate variables in order to identify the drivers of nearshore turbidity, along with its seasonality in the nearshore waters of Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk, in the western Canadian Arctic. Nearshore turbidity correlates well to wind direction, wind speed, significant wave height, and wave period. Nearshore turbidity is superiorly correlated to wind speed at the Beaufort Shelf compared to in situ measurements at Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk, showing that nearshore turbidity, albeit being of limited spatial extent, is influenced by large-scale weather and ocean phenomenons. We show that, in contrast to the temperate and tropical ocean, freshly eroded material is the predominant driver of nearshore turbidity in the Arctic, rather than resuspension, which is caused by the vulnerability of permafrost coasts to thermo-erosion. KW - ocean color remote sensing KW - Arctic ocean KW - suspended sediment KW - Landsat KW - Sentinel 2 KW - ERA5 KW - nearshore zone Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/w14111751 SN - 2073-4441 VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Radosavljevic, Boris A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Knoblauch, Christian A1 - Couture, Nicole A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike A1 - Fritz, Michael T1 - Arctic nearshore sediment dynamics - an example from Herschel Island - Qikiqtaruk, Canada JF - Journal of marine science and engineering N2 - Increasing arctic coastal erosion rates imply a greater release of sediments and organic matter into the coastal zone. With 213 sediment samples taken around Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk, Canadian Beaufort Sea, we aimed to gain new insights on sediment dynamics and geochemical properties of a shallow arctic nearshore zone. Spatial characteristics of nearshore sediment texture (moderately to poorly sorted silt) are dictated by hydrodynamic processes, but ice-related processes also play a role. We determined organic matter (OM) distribution and inferred the origin and quality of organic carbon by C/N ratios and stable carbon isotopes delta C-13. The carbon content was higher offshore and in sheltered areas (mean: 1.0 wt.%., S.D.: 0.9) and the C/N ratios also showed a similar spatial pattern (mean: 11.1, S.D.: 3.1), while the delta C-13 (mean: -26.4 parts per thousand VPDB, S.D.: 0.4) distribution was more complex. We compared the geochemical parameters of our study with terrestrial and marine samples from other studies using a bootstrap approach. Sediments of the current study contained 6.5 times and 1.8 times less total organic carbon than undisturbed and disturbed terrestrial sediments, respectively. Therefore, degradation of OM and separation of carbon pools take place on land and continue in the nearshore zone, where OM is leached, mineralized, or transported beyond the study area. KW - permafrost KW - Arctic Ocean KW - stable carbon isotopes KW - nitrogen KW - sediment KW - chemistry KW - sediment dynamics KW - Beaufort Sea KW - grain size Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111589 SN - 2077-1312 VL - 10 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klein, Konstantin P. A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Heim, Birgit A1 - Doxaran, David A1 - Juhls, Bennet A1 - Nitze, Ingmar A1 - Walch, Daniela A1 - Poste, Amanda A1 - Søreide, Janne E. T1 - The Arctic Nearshore Turbidity Algorithm (ANTA) BT - A multi sensor turbidity algorithm for Arctic nearshore environments JF - Science of remote sensing N2 - The Arctic is greatly impacted by climate change. The increase in air temperature drives the thawing of permafrost and an increase in coastal erosion and river discharge. This leads to a greater input of sediment and organic matter into coastal waters, which substantially impacts the ecosystems by reducing light transmission through the water column and altering the biogeochemistry, but also the subsistence economy of local people, and changes in climate because of the transformation of organic matter into greenhouse gases. Yet, the quantification of suspended sediment in Arctic coastal and nearshore waters remains unsatisfactory due to the absence of dedicated algorithms to resolve the high loads occurring in the close vicinity of the shoreline. In this study we present the Arctic Nearshore Turbidity Algorithm (ANTA), the first reflectance-turbidity relationship specifically targeted towards Arctic nearshore waters that is tuned with in-situ measurements from the nearshore waters of Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk in the western Canadian Arctic. A semi-empirical model was calibrated for several relevant sensors in ocean color remote sensing, including MODIS, Sentinel 3 (OLCI), Landsat 8 (OLI), and Sentinel 2 (MSI), as well as the older Landsat sensors TM and ETM+. The ANTA performed better with Landsat 8 than with Sentinel 2 and Sentinel 3. The application of the ANTA to Sentinel 2 imagery that matches in-situ turbidity samples taken in Adventfjorden, Svalbard, shows transferability to nearshore areas beyond Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk. KW - Ocean color remote sensing KW - Turbidity retrieval KW - Nearshore zone KW - Arctic Ocean Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2021.100036 SN - 2666-0172 VL - 4 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grotheer, Hendrik A1 - Meyer, Vera A1 - Riedel, Theran A1 - Pfalz, Gregor A1 - Mathieu, Lucie A1 - Hefter, Jens H. A1 - Gentz, Torben A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Mollennauer, Gesine A1 - Fritz, Michael T1 - Burial and origin of permafrost-derived carbon in the nearshore zone of the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea JF - Geophysical research letters N2 - Detailed organic geochemical and carbon isotopic (delta C-13 and Delta C-14) analyses are performed on permafrost deposits affected by coastal erosion (Herschel Island, Canadian Beaufort Sea) and adjacent marine sediments (Herschel Basin) to understand the fate of organic carbon in Arctic nearshore environments. We use an end-member model based on the carbon isotopic composition of bulk organic matter to identify sources of organic carbon. Monte Carlo simulations are applied to quantify the contribution of coastal permafrost erosion to the sedimentary carbon budget. The models suggest that similar to 40% of all carbon released by local coastal permafrost erosion is efficiently trapped and sequestered in the nearshore zone. This highlights the importance of sedimentary traps in environments such as basins, lagoons, troughs, and canyons for the carbon sequestration in previously poorly investigated, nearshore areas. Plain Language Summary Increasing air and sea surface temperatures at high latitudes leads to accelerated thaw, destabilization, and erosion of perennially frozen soils (i.e., permafrost), which are often rich in organic carbon. Coastal erosion leads to an increased mobilization of organic carbon into the Arctic Ocean, which there can be converted into greenhouse gases and may therefore contribute to further warming. Carbon decomposition can be limited if organic matter is efficiently deposited on the seafloor, buried in marine sediments, and thus removed from the short-term carbon cycle. Basins, canyons, and troughs near the coastline can serve as sediment traps and potentially accommodate large quantities of organic carbon along the Arctic coast. Here we use biomarkers (source-specific molecules), stable carbon isotopes, and radiocarbon to identify the sources of organic carbon in the nearshore zone of the southern Canadian Beaufort Sea near Herschel Island. We quantify the contribution of coastal permafrost erosion to the sedimentary carbon budget of the area and estimate that more than a third of all carbon released by local permafrost erosion is efficiently trapped in marine sediments. This highlights the importance of regional sediment traps for carbon sequestration. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085897 SN - 0094-8276 SN - 1944-8007 VL - 47 IS - 3 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, NJ 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 - Coch, Caroline A1 - Juhls, Bennet A1 - Lamoureux, Scott F. A1 - Lafreniere, Melissa J. A1 - Fritz, Michael A1 - Heim, Birgit A1 - Lantuit, Hugues T1 - Comparisons of dissolved organic matter and its optical characteristics in small low and high Arctic catchments JF - Biogeosciences N2 - Climate change is affecting the rate of carbon cycling, particularly in the Arctic. Permafrost degradation through deeper thaw and physical disturbances results in the release of carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere and to an increase in lateral dissolved organic matter (DOM) fluxes. Whereas riverine DOM fluxes of the large Arctic rivers are well assessed, knowledge is limited with regard to small catchments that cover more than 40% of the Arctic drainage basin. Here, we use absorption measurements to characterize changes in DOM quantity and quality in a low Arctic (Herschel Island, Yukon, Canada) and a high Arctic (Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Nunavut, Canada) setting with regard to geographical differences, impacts of permafrost degradation, and rainfall events. We find that DOM quantity and quality is controlled by differences in vegetation cover and soil organic carbon content (SOCC). The low Arctic site has higher SOCC and greater abundance of plant material resulting in higher chromophoric dissolved organic matter (cDOM) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) than in the high Arctic. DOC concentration and cDOM in surface waters at both sites show strong linear relationships similar to the one for the great Arctic rivers. We used the optical characteristics of DOM such as cDOM absorption, specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA), ultraviolet (UV) spectral slopes (S275-295), and slope ratio (SR) for assessing quality changes downstream, at base flow and storm flow conditions, and in relation to permafrost disturbance. DOM in streams at both sites demonstrated optical signatures indicative of photodegradation downstream processes, even over short distances of 2000 m. Flow pathways and the connected hydrological residence time control DOM quality. Deeper flow pathways allow the export of permafrost-derived DOM (i.e. from deeper in the active layer), whereas shallow pathways with shorter residence times lead to the export of fresh surface- and near-surface-derived DOM. Compared to the large Arctic rivers, DOM quality exported from the small catchments studied here is much fresher and therefore prone to degradation. Assessing optical properties of DOM and linking them to catchment properties will be a useful tool for understanding changing DOM fluxes and quality at a pan-Arctic scale. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4535-2019 SN - 1726-4170 SN - 1726-4189 VL - 16 IS - 23 SP - 4535 EP - 4553 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klein, Konstantin P. A1 - Lantuit, Hugues A1 - Heim, Birgit A1 - Fell, Frank A1 - Doxaran, David A1 - Irrgang, Anna Maria T1 - Long-Term High-Resolution Sediment and Sea Surface Temperature Spatial Patterns in Arctic Nearshore Waters Retrieved Using 30-Year Landsat Archive Imagery JF - Remote sensing N2 - The Arctic is directly impacted by climate change. The increase in air temperature drives the thawing of permafrost and an increase in coastal erosion and river discharge. This leads to a greater input of sediment and organic matter into coastal waters, which substantially impacts the ecosystems, the subsistence economy of the local population, and the climate because of the transformation of organic matter into greenhouse gases. Yet, the patterns of sediment dispersal in the nearshore zone are not well known, because ships do not often reach shallow waters and satellite remote sensing is traditionally focused on less dynamic environments. The goal of this study is to use the extensive Landsat archive to investigate sediment dispersal patterns specifically on an exemplary Arctic nearshore environment, where field measurements are often scarce. Multiple Landsat scenes were combined to calculate means of sediment dispersal and sea surface temperature under changing seasonal wind conditions in the nearshore zone of Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk in the western Canadian Arctic since 1982. We use observations in the Landsat red and thermal wavebands, as well as a recently published water turbidity algorithm to relate archive wind data to turbidity and sea surface temperature. We map the spatial patterns of turbidity and water temperature at high spatial resolution in order to resolve transport pathways of water and sediment at the water surface. Our results show that these pathways are clearly related to the prevailing wind conditions, being ESE and NW. During easterly wind conditions, both turbidity and water temperature are significantly higher in the nearshore area. The extent of the Mackenzie River plume and coastal erosion are the main explanatory variables for sediment dispersal and sea surface temperature distributions in the study area. During northwesterly wind conditions, the influence of the Mackenzie River plume is negligible. Our results highlight the potential of high spatial resolution Landsat imagery to detect small-scale hydrodynamic processes, but also show the need to specifically tune optical models for Arctic nearshore environments. KW - ocean color remote sensing KW - suspended particulate matter KW - turbidity KW - nearshore zone KW - Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk KW - river plume KW - coastal erosion KW - Landsat Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11232791 SN - 2072-4292 VL - 11 IS - 23 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tanski, Georg A1 - Wagner, Dirk A1 - Knoblauch, Christian A1 - Fritz, Michael A1 - Sachs, Torsten A1 - Lantuit, Hugues T1 - Rapid CO2 Release From Eroding Permafrost in Seawater JF - Geophysical research letters Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084303 SN - 0094-8276 SN - 1944-8007 VL - 46 IS - 20 SP - 11244 EP - 11252 PB - American Geophysical Union CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Biskaborn, Boris K. A1 - Smith, Sharon L. A1 - Noetzli, Jeannette A1 - Matthes, Heidrun A1 - Vieira, Goncalo A1 - Streletskiy, Dmitry A. A1 - Schoeneich, Philippe A1 - Romanovsky, Vladimir E. A1 - Lewkowicz, Antoni G. A1 - Abramov, Andrey A1 - Allard, Michel A1 - Boike, Julia A1 - Cable, William L. A1 - Christiansen, Hanne H. A1 - Delaloye, Reynald A1 - Diekmann, Bernhard A1 - Drozdov, Dmitry A1 - Etzelmueller, Bernd A1 - Grosse, Guido A1 - Guglielmin, Mauro A1 - Ingeman-Nielsen, Thomas A1 - Isaksen, Ketil A1 - Ishikawa, Mamoru A1 - Johansson, Margareta A1 - Johannsson, Halldor A1 - Joo, Anseok A1 - Kaverin, Dmitry A1 - Kholodov, Alexander A1 - Konstantinov, Pavel A1 - Kroeger, Tim A1 - Lambiel, Christophe A1 - Lanckman, Jean-Pierre A1 - Luo, Dongliang A1 - Malkova, Galina A1 - Meiklejohn, Ian A1 - Moskalenko, Natalia A1 - Oliva, Marc A1 - Phillips, Marcia A1 - Ramos, Miguel A1 - Sannel, A. Britta K. A1 - Sergeev, Dmitrii A1 - Seybold, Cathy A1 - Skryabin, Pavel A1 - Vasiliev, Alexander A1 - Wu, Qingbai A1 - Yoshikawa, Kenji A1 - Zheleznyak, Mikhail A1 - Lantuit, Hugues T1 - Permafrost is warming at a global scale JF - Nature Communications N2 - Permafrost warming has the potential to amplify global climate change, because when frozen sediments thaw it unlocks soil organic carbon. Yet to date, no globally consistent assessment of permafrost temperature change has been compiled. Here we use a global data set of permafrost temperature time series from the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost to evaluate temperature change across permafrost regions for the period since the International Polar Year (2007-2009). During the reference decade between 2007 and 2016, ground temperature near the depth of zero annual amplitude in the continuous permafrost zone increased by 0.39 +/- 0.15 degrees C. Over the same period, discontinuous permafrost warmed by 0.20 +/- 0.10 degrees C. Permafrost in mountains warmed by 0.19 +/- 0.05 degrees C and in Antarctica by 0.37 +/- 0.10 degrees C. Globally, permafrost temperature increased by 0.29 +/- 0.12 degrees C. The observed trend follows the Arctic amplification of air temperature increase in the Northern Hemisphere. In the discontinuous zone, however, ground warming occurred due to increased snow thickness while air temperature remained statistically unchanged. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-08240-4 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 10 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER -