Background/Question/Methods

Erosion rates along high latitude shorelines are among the highest in the world. With changing climatic conditions the vulnerability of arctic shorelines is increasing as a consequence of longer exposure to ice free seas. Communities, industry, marine and terrestrial ecosystems along coastal arctic regions are being heavily impacted by these rapid changes. The Barrow Environmental Observatory is bounded on the east by the Elson Lagoon shoreline of the Beaufort Sea. Rates of erosion along bluffs have been monitored annually at 14 transects since 2002 as part of the Arctic Coastal Dynamics program. Continuous, ground-based Differential Global Positioning System surveys were conducted along the BEO shoreline in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008.