Impacts of past and future coastal changes on the Yukon coast - threats for cultural sites, infrastructure, and travel routes
- Yukon’s Beaufort coast, Canada, is a highly dynamic landscape. Cultural sites, infrastructure, and travel routes used by the local population are particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion. To assess threats to these phenomena, rates of shoreline change for a 210 km length of the coast were analyzed and combined with socioeconomic and cultural information. Rates of shoreline change were derived from aerial and satellite imagery from the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2011. Using these data, conservative (S1) and dynamic (S2) shoreline projections were constructed to predict shoreline positions for the year 2100. The locations of cultural features in the archives of a Parks Canada database, the Yukon Archaeological Program, and as reported in other literature were combined with projected shoreline position changes. Between 2011 and 2100, approximately 850 ha (S1) and 2660 ha (S2) may erode, resulting in a loss of 45% (S1) to 61% (S2) of all cultural features by 2100. The last large, actively used camp area and two nearshore landing stripsYukon’s Beaufort coast, Canada, is a highly dynamic landscape. Cultural sites, infrastructure, and travel routes used by the local population are particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion. To assess threats to these phenomena, rates of shoreline change for a 210 km length of the coast were analyzed and combined with socioeconomic and cultural information. Rates of shoreline change were derived from aerial and satellite imagery from the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2011. Using these data, conservative (S1) and dynamic (S2) shoreline projections were constructed to predict shoreline positions for the year 2100. The locations of cultural features in the archives of a Parks Canada database, the Yukon Archaeological Program, and as reported in other literature were combined with projected shoreline position changes. Between 2011 and 2100, approximately 850 ha (S1) and 2660 ha (S2) may erode, resulting in a loss of 45% (S1) to 61% (S2) of all cultural features by 2100. The last large, actively used camp area and two nearshore landing strips will likely be threatened by future coastal processes. Future coastal erosion and sedimentation processes are expected to increasingly threaten cultural sites and influence travelling and living along the Yukon coast.…
| Author details: | Anna Maria IrrgangORCiDGND, Hugues LantuitORCiDGND, Richard R. Gordon, Ashley Piskor, Gavin K. Manson |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0041 |
| ISSN: | 2368-7460 |
| Title of parent work (English): | Arctic Science |
| Publisher: | Canadian Science Publishing |
| Place of publishing: | Ottawa |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of first publication: | 2019/02/11 |
| Publication year: | 2019 |
| Release date: | 2021/01/27 |
| Tag: | Arctic coastal dynamics; Inuvialuit cultural features; permafrost coast; shoreline projection |
| Volume: | 5 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Number of pages: | 20 |
| First page: | 107 |
| Last Page: | 126 |
| Funding institution: | German Federal Environmental Foundation; Helmholtz Young Investigator Group "COPER" [VH-NG-801]; Climate Change Geoscience Program of the Earth Science Section of Natural Resources Canada; Nunataryuk project [773421] |
| Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie |
| DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |
| Peer review: | Referiert |
| Publishing method: | Open Access / Gold Open-Access |
