Sea ice loss enhances wave action at the Arctic coast

Overeem, I.; Anderson, Robert S.; Wobus, Cameron; Clow, Gary D.; Urban, F. E.; Matell, Nora

doi:10.1029/2011gl048681

Cited by 241 publications

(214 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…This also adds perspective to the trend of OWD increase of 0.5-1 d a −1 observed by Barnhart et al (2014) for coastal cells in the Laptev Sea with significant trends over the entire 1979-2012 SSM/I data set. Overeem et al (2011) show that open water duration has been increasing along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coastline from icy to ice-free over decades based on SSM/I ice cover calculations. In our case, most likely, the warm Lena River waters are likely to additionally support local seasonality via early break-up, because of generally thinner sea ice (Spreen et al, 2011) and earlier spring floods (Federova et al, 2009).…”

Section: Changes In Environmental Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing Muostakh disappear: permafrost thaw subsidence and erosion of a ground-ice-rich island in response to arctic summer warming and sea ice reduction

Günther

Overduin

Yakshina³

et al. 2015

The Cryosphere

167

172

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Abstract.Observations of coastline retreat using contemporary very high resolution satellite and historical aerial imagery were compared to measurements of open water fraction, summer air temperature, and wind. We analysed seasonal and interannual variations of thawing-induced cliff top retreat (thermo-denudation) and marine abrasion (thermoabrasion) on Muostakh Island in the southern central Laptev Sea. Geomorphometric analysis revealed that total ground ice content on Muostakh is made up of equal amounts of intrasedimentary and macro ground ice and sums up to 87 %, rendering the island particularly susceptible to erosion along the coast, resulting in land loss. Based on topographic reference measurements during field campaigns, we generated digital elevation models using stereophotogrammetry, in order to block-adjust and orthorectify aerial photographs from 1951 and GeoEye, QuickBird, WorldView-1, and WorldView-2 imagery from 2010 to 2013 for change detection. Using sea ice concentration data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and air temperature time series from nearby Tiksi, we calculated the seasonal duration available for thermo-abrasion, expressed as open water days, and for thermo-denudation, based on the number of days with positive mean daily temperatures. Seasonal dynamics of cliff top retreat revealed rapid thermo-denudation rates of −10.2 ± 4.5 m a −1 in mid-summer and thermo-abrasion rates along the coastline of −3.4 ± 2.7 m a −1 on average during the 2010-2013 observation period, currently almost twice as rapid as the mean rate of −1.8 ± 1.3 m a −1 since 1951. Our results showed a close relationship between mean summer air temperature and coastal thermo-erosion rates, in agreement with observations made for various permafrost coastlines different to the East Siberian Ice Complex coasts elsewhere in the Arctic. Seasonality of coastline retreat and interannual variations of environmental factors suggest that an increasing length of thermo-denudation and thermo-abrasion process simultaneity favours greater coastal erosion. Coastal thermoerosion has reduced the island's area by 0.9 km 2 (24 %) over the past 62 years but shrank its volume by 28 × 10 6 m 3 (40 %), not least because of permafrost thaw subsidence, with the most pronounced with rates of ≥ −11 cm a −1 on yedoma uplands near the island's rapidly eroding northern cape. Recent acceleration in both will halve Muostakh Island's lifetime to less than a century.

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Section: Changes In Environmental Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing Muostakh disappear: permafrost thaw subsidence and erosion of a ground-ice-rich island in response to arctic summer warming and sea ice reduction

Günther

Overduin

Yakshina³

et al. 2015

The Cryosphere

167

172

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“…Recent research has suggested that Arctic coastal erosion is generally restricted to a few months of open water during which waves can attack the coast and promote erosion Overeem et al 2011;Lantuit et al 2012). Sea-ice coverage has declined for the entire Arctic over the past four decades (Førland et al 2009), and Svalbard in particular is known to have lower sea-ice coverage due to the warm Atlantic Waters which flow past the western coast and enter into fjords (Å dlandsvik & Loeng 1991;Nilsen et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terrestrial processes affecting unlithified coastal erosion disparities in central fjords of Svalbard

Sessford

Bæverfjord

Hormes³

2015

Polar Research

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“…These passive sea ice products have been used in numerous studies of Arctic climate and impacts of climate change encompassing: impacts on coastal erosion (Overeem et al, 2011), effects on wildlife such as polar bears (e.g., Stirling and Parkinson, 2006), relationship to greenhouse gas emissions (Johannessen, 2008), possible influences on midlatitude climate (e.g., Overland et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2012;Francis and Vavrus, 2012), model evaluations (e.g., Adams et al, 2011;Jahn et al, 2012), data assimilation (e.g., Lindsay and Zhang, 2006), and assessment of model projections Overland, 2009, 2012). The data have of course also been used to directly analyze time series of Arctic sea ice trends and variability (e.g., Bjørgo et al, 1997;Meier et al, 2007;Comiso and Nishio, 2008;Stroeve et al, 2011;Cavalieri and Parkinson, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A simple approach to providing a more consistent Arctic sea ice extent time series from the 1950s to present

et al. 2012

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Abstract.Observations from passive microwave satellite sensors have provided a continuous and consistent record of sea ice extent since late 1978. Earlier records, compiled from ice charts and other sources exist, but are not consistent with the satellite record. Here, a method is presented to adjust a compilation of pre-satellite sources to remove discontinuities between the two periods and create a more consistent combined 59-yr time series spanning 1953-2011. This adjusted combined time series shows more realistic behavior across the transition between the two individual time series and thus provides higher confidence in trend estimates from 1953 through 2011. The long-term time series is used to calculate linear trend estimates and compare them with trend estimates from the satellite period. The results indicate that trends through the 1960s were largely positive (though not statistically significant) and then turned negative by the mid-1970s and have been consistently negative since, reaching statistical significance (at the 95 % confidence level) by the late 1980s. The trend for September (when Arctic extent reaches its seasonal minimum) for the satellite period, 1979-2011 is −12.9 % decade −1 , nearly double the 1953-2011 trend of −6.8 % decade −1 (percent relative to the 1981-2010 mean). The recent decade (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) stands out as a period of persistent decline in ice extent. The combined 59-yr time series puts the strong observed decline in the Arctic sea ice cover during 1979-2011 in a longer-term context and provides a useful resource for comparisons with historical model estimates.

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Sea ice loss enhances wave action at the Arctic coast

Cited by 241 publications

References 27 publications

Observing Muostakh disappear: permafrost thaw subsidence and erosion of a ground-ice-rich island in response to arctic summer warming and sea ice reduction

Observing Muostakh disappear: permafrost thaw subsidence and erosion of a ground-ice-rich island in response to arctic summer warming and sea ice reduction

Terrestrial processes affecting unlithified coastal erosion disparities in central fjords of Svalbard

A simple approach to providing a more consistent Arctic sea ice extent time series from the 1950s to present

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