Scientists raise concerns over factor driving unprecedented change to Arctic coast: 'This study is a wake-up call'

A new study of Alaska says the state's coastal erosion is accelerating as a result of "compound climate impacts." The effects could transform as much as six to eight times more land than erosion alone.

What's happening?

Our warming planet is driving rapid changes along Arctic coastal regions. After analyzing 75 years of aerial and satellite observations, scientists are aware of the increasing Arctic hazard of coastal erosion.

Other less-understood processes are threatening Arctic coastlines that haven't received the same amount of attention. These "compound climate impacts" include rising sea levels, permafrost thaws, intensifying storms, and sea ice thinning.

Residents of northern Alaska have seen the impacts of permafrost thaw subsidence — the sinking of the land surface that happens when permanently frozen ground, known as permafrost, thaws.

Some scientists are concerned that agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be missing some of the picture.

"These sorts of bodies with a lot of resources may have not been paying enough attention to permafrost thaw subsidence as an agent of coastal change," according to Roger Creel, the study's lead author and postdoctoral scholar in Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Department of Physical Oceanography, per Phys.org. "This study is a wake-up call to expand the conversation.

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"Compound climate impacts accelerate coastal change," Creel added. "There is this nonlinear acceleration in coastal impacts that we should be expecting will happen in places like Northern Alaska."

Why is the acceleration of coastal erosion in Alaska concerning?

"By 2100, unless coasts respond differently to future change, these compound effects may transform 6-8x more land than erosion alone may impact," according to the study. "Without mitigating measures, by 2100, coastal change could damage 40 to 65% of infrastructure in present-day ACP coastal villages and 10 to 20% of oilfield infrastructure."

Researchers focused on Alaska's Arctic Coastal Plain, a vast, 23,000-plus-square-mile region of low-lying, ice-rich permafrost that is experiencing some of the Arctic's fastest rates of sea-level rise and coastal erosion.

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The study's authors say their research shows the urgent need for Arctic communities to do adaptive planning because of the problems posed by compounding climate hazards.

The authors also warn that by 2100, the combined effects of coastal erosion and other compound climate impacts will likely push the North Slope shoreline to a point inland that hasn't been reached since the last interglacial period, more than 100,000 years ago.

Our overheating planet is hitting Alaska hard. A recent report highlights how our 49th state is being impacted by melting glaciers and extreme weather. One of the alarming findings from the study points out that flooding in Juneau last year was caused by glacial melt due to our planet overheating with minimal influence from weather conditions.

What's being done about compound climate impacts?

The study's authors call for more research on Arctic shoreline evolution in the future, which should be driven by communities affected by the "paradigm shift in 21st-century Arctic coastal change that we project here."

Soaring fuel costs are forcing utilities in Alaska to shift to renewable energy sources. Renewable options such as solar and wind will help reduce the amount of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere that contribute to the problems in our country's biggest state.