FALLING QUICKLY Researchers are measuring rapid erosion along the Arctic coast as ice-rich soil warms. Shown here, a chunk of permafrost in Alaska has collapsed into the water. Courtesy of Christopher Arp/USGS
Arctic coastlines — a third of the globe’s total shores — are retreating an average of a half meter annually, a 10-nation regional assessment concludes. A warming climate is the apparent cause, according to a related Alaskan study that also calculates the amount of carbon and other nutrients in soil being washed into Arctic waters.
On average, shorelines in the region retreat about a half meter per year, although annual erosion in some regions now exceeds 8 meters, the new State of the Arctic Coast Report estimates. That rate is higher than anywhere else on the planet — and escalating. It’s something that scientists had suspected, but until now had not amassed sufficient data to confirm, notes Volker Rachold, executive secretary of the International Arctic Science Committee in Potsdam, Germany. The organization copublished the new report along with the Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone Project, the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme and the International Permafrost Association.