Rapid retreat of Arctic coastline revealed
Drone surveys have revealed extreme erosion on the Arctic coastline.
Storms in the Canadian Arctic are washing away increasing amounts of coastal permafrost - frozen ground - which is exposed when sea ice melts during the summer.
The results highlight the ongoing change in the region, as a warming climate leads to longer summer seasons. Sea ice melts earlier and reforms later in the year than before, exposing the coastline and presenting more opportunities for storms to cause damage.
An international team of researchers led by the University of Edinburgh flew drone-mounted cameras over a section of permafrost coastline on Herschel Island, also known as Qikiqtaruk, off the Yukon coast in the Canadian Arctic.
The team mapped the area seven times over 40 days in the summer of 2017. Their results, from image-based computer models, showed that the coast had retreated by 14.5 metres during the period, sometimes more than a metre a day.
Comparison with surveys dating from 1952 until 2011 showed that the rate of erosion in 2017 was more than six times the long-term average for the area.
Around the Arctic, rapidly changing permafrost landscapes threaten infrastructure essential to local communities such as on Qikiqtaruk - Herschel Island, as well as significant cultural and historic sites.
Have you ever visited the Canadian Arctic? Are you worried about the impact climate change is already starting to have on the planet?
No, I haven't visited the Canadian Arctic and, no, I'm not worried about the impact climate change is already starting to have on the planet? We keep hearing about the Arctic losing ice but nobody wants to talk about the Antarctic where there is an increase of ice. Apparently it doesn't suit the debate of climate change warriors. I'd like the bloggers to take a bit of time to look at the video below which gives another side of climate change, especially the need for CO² in our lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFHX526NPbE