Alaska News

New Arctic coastal erosion study published

According to CBC News, a comparative 2010 study of coastal Arctic erosion by an international group of researchers has been released, and the scientists say they've found reason to support their suspicions that the phenomenon is happening faster than expected. The study looked at approximately one-quarter of the region's coast, and is the first to consider different rates of erosion and its impact on northern peoples. The survey found that, on average, the region is losing about a half-yard of coastline per year and that land changes are starting to disrupt the traditional knowledge of local populations. Some of the highest rates of erosion were observed along the coasts of the Beaufort, Laptev and East Siberian seas. The researchers point out that the survey, published Sunday in print and online, is not definitive because at this time there isn't a sufficient amount of year-to-year data to compare, but they suspect that erosion has been accelerated by reductions in sea ice cover. Read the latest reports as of this writing at CBC News, Postmedia News (via Nunavut's Nunatsiaq Online), and National Geographic.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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