Tracing the origin of Arctic driftwood

Hellmann, Lena; Tegel, Willy; Eggertsson, Ólafur; Schweingruber, Fritz Hans; Blanchette, Robert A.; Kirdyanov, Alexander V.; Gärtner, Holger; Büntgen, Ulf

doi:10.1002/jgrg.20022

Cited by 44 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Slope debris at the cliff bottom along the entire coast illustrates the episodic character of coastal thermo-erosion on Buor Khaya, where simultaneous reworking of products from TD through TA is hampered by beach morphology. Driftwood is present along much of the beach, reflecting proximity to the Lena River (Hellmann et al, 2013), but also the role of high water events in depositing material high on the beach. Based on our field observations, we agree with Are (2012), who finds that the bright colour of the beach material south of the thermokarst lagoon (Fig.…”

Section: Biogeosciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short- and long-term thermo-erosion of ice-rich permafrost coasts in the Laptev Sea region

et al. 2013

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Permafrost coasts in the Arctic are susceptible to a variety of changing environmental factors all of which currently point to increasing coastal erosion rates and mass fluxes of sediment and carbon to the shallow arctic shelf seas. Rapid erosion along high yedoma coasts composed of Ice Complex permafrost deposits creates impressive coastal ice cliffs and inspired research for designing and implementing change detection studies for a long time, but continuous quantitative monitoring and a qualitative inventory of coastal thermo-erosion for large coastline segments is still lacking. Our goal is to use observations of thermo-erosion along the mainland coast of the Laptev Sea, in eastern Siberia, to understand how it depends on coastal geomorphology and the relative contributions of water level and atmospheric drivers. We compared multi-temporal sets of orthorectified satellite imagery from 1965 to 2011 for three segments of coastline ranging in length from 73 to 95 km and analyzed thermo-denudation (TD) along the cliff top and thermo-abrasion (TA) along the cliff bottom for two nested time periods: long-term rates (the past 39–43 yr) and short-term rates (the past 1–4 yr). The Normalized Difference Thermo-erosion Index (NDTI) was used as a proxy to qualitatively describe the relative proportions of TD and TA. Mean annual erosion rates at all three sites were higher in recent years (−5.3 ± 1.3 m a⁻¹) than over the long-term mean (−2.2 ± 0.1 m a⁻¹). The Mamontov Klyk coast exhibits primarily spatial variations of thermo-erosion, while intrasite-specific variations caused by local relief were strongest at the Buor Khaya coast, where the slowest long-term rates of around −0.5 ± 0.1 m a⁻¹ were observed. The Oyogos Yar coast showed continuously rapid erosion up to −6.5 ± 0.2 m a⁻¹. In general, variable characteristics of coastal thermo-erosion were observed not only between study sites and over time, but also within single coastal transects along the cliff profile. Varying intensities of cliff bottom and top erosion are leading to diverse qualities of coastal erosion that have different impacts on coastal mass fluxes. The different extents of Ice Complex permafrost degradation within our study sites turned out to influence not only the degree of coupling between TD and TA, and the magnitude of effectively eroded volumes, but also the quantity of organic carbon released to the shallow Laptev Sea from coastal erosion, which ranged on a long-term from 88 ± 21 to 800 ± 61 t per km coastline per year and will correspond to considerably higher amounts, if recently observed more rapid coastal erosion rates prove to be persistent

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Section: Biogeosciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short- and long-term thermo-erosion of ice-rich permafrost coasts in the Laptev Sea region

et al. 2013

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“…Driftwood was collected in Svalbard in 1996, in eastern Greenland in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and in Iceland in 2012 (Figure 1) [18,31]. Samples were taken as discs from driftwood stems and all wood was classified as logged or natural material (Figure 1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subsequently, all samples were sanded or their surface was cut using a box cutter for macroscopic genus classification. Microscopic wood identification based on unstained radial cuts can reveal the genus or even the species of the wood samples ( Figure 1) [18]. Ring widths of Pinus sylvestris, Larix sp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to long distances to the next harbors, few roads, partly in poor conditions and high costs for transport on land, harvested timber was often transported along the big river systems [17], of which most run northward to the Arctic Ocean. Single stem floating was widely used in the 20th century, causing the loss of huge amounts of wood [18]. Better techniques including binding together of timber to rafts that were guided by ships reduced the loss of wood later on [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sampling sites in the northern Arctic are characterized by a high probability of finding millennial-old wood samples due to minor human impact [25]. Recent Arctic driftwood, mainly collected at sea-level and more southern sites, additionally reflects forest management and logging activities in its source regions, the boreal forest zone [18,31]. A systematic, circumpolar assessment, that not only investigates age and composition of Arctic driftwood, but also the link to forest management activities in the origin areas, is, however, still missing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Boreal Timber Rafting on the Composition of Arctic Driftwood

Hellmann

Kirdyanov

Büntgen

2016

Forests

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Abstract:Wood from the boreal forest represents an important resource for paper production and sawmill processing. Due to poor infrastructure and high transportation costs on land, timbers are often transported over long distances along large river systems. Industrial river rafting activities started at the end of the 19th century and were intensified in western Russia and central Siberia from the 1920s to the 1980s. After initial single stem rafting, timber is today mostly floated in ship-guided rafts. Lost wood can be transported further to the Arctic Ocean, where it may drift within sea ice over several years and thousands of kilometers before being deposited along (sub-)Arctic coastlines. Here, we introduce dendro-dated tree-ring width series of 383 driftwood samples from logged timber that were collected along different driftwood-recipient coastlines in Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard. The majority of driftwood is Pinus sylvestris from the southern Yenisei region in central Siberia, whereas Larix sp. and Picea sp. from western Russia and eastern Siberia are rare. Although our results are based on a small sample collection, they clearly show the importance of timber rafting on species, age and origin of Arctic driftwood and indicate the immense loss of material during wood industrial river floating.

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A study of the composition, characteristics, and origin of modern driftwood on the western coast of Nunavik (Quebec, Canada)

et al. 2015

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Data concerning driftwood is of value to researchers in fields as diverse as oceanography, geomorphology, and human occupation. Yet studies on the subject in the Canadian Arctic have only recently been carried out, and the present study is the first in Nunavik (northeastern Canada). This paper documents the composition, characteristics, and origin of modern driftwood pieces on the beaches of the eastern coast of Hudson Bay. A total of 1057 samples from Ivujivik, Akulivik, Inukjuak, and Umiujaq were identified as belonging to four coniferous species (Picea sp., Larix sp., Abies sp. likely balsamea, and Thuja sp. likely occidentalis) and four deciduous species (Salix sp., Populus sp., Alnus sp., and Betula sp., likely papyrifera). Spruce largely predominate; white birch, white cedar, and fir are rare. The presence of the latter species proves that some of the wood originated from south-southeast of James Bay. Driftwood found in the southern area (Umiujaq) are more numerous, larger, and less degraded than driftwood in the north (Ivujivik). However, many large coniferous samples were found as far north as Akulivik, indicating that they likely traveled a great distance, unlike the smaller wood specimens (especially deciduous samples). All of the wood that we analyzed died relatively young, with an average age of 63 years for conifers and 23 years for deciduous. Measurements of ring widths and the cross-dating of samples with existing reference chronologies of living trees along Hudson Bay and James Bay revealed several possible correlations and origins for wood found in same areas.

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Tracing the origin of Arctic driftwood

Cited by 44 publications

References 44 publications

Short- and long-term thermo-erosion of ice-rich permafrost coasts in the Laptev Sea region

Short- and long-term thermo-erosion of ice-rich permafrost coasts in the Laptev Sea region

Effects of Boreal Timber Rafting on the Composition of Arctic Driftwood

A study of the composition, characteristics, and origin of modern driftwood on the western coast of Nunavik (Quebec, Canada)

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