Toward a Predictive Model of Arctic Coastal Retreat in a Warming Climate, Beaufort Sea, Alaska
Abstract
The long-term goal of this project is to understand the environmental drivers of extremely rapid coastal erosion in the Arctic, so that we can begin to predict how present and future climate change might influence coastal evolution. Our study is focused on the Beaufort Sea coast within the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPR-A), approximately halfway between Barrow and Prudhoe Bay. We are focusing our efforts on collecting empirical data that will help us to develop process-based models of coastal change. Toward this end, we are monitoring erosion processes using time-lapse photography, collecting meteorological and oceanographic data from sites along the coast, and archiving climatic and geographic data from the past few decades to identify trends in coastline position through time. We anticipate that our project will help us to predict future patterns of coastal change as a function of projected changes in sea surface temperature, sea ice conditions, and changes in land surface temperatures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA532776
Entities
People
- Cameron W. Wobus
- Irina Overeem
- Robert S. Anderson
Organizations
- University of Colorado Boulder