Assessing planimetric and volumetric coastal changes on Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk, Yukon, Canada


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hugues.lantuit [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

Permafrost coasts in the Arctic are extremely vulnerable to the effects of global climate change. The increase in sea temperature, the decrease in sea ice extent and longer open-water seasons lead to higher coastal erosion. These erosion rates are among the highest worldwide. This results in significant land loss, both planimetric and volumetric, and leads to a notable reshaping of the coastline. Coastal erosion rates are usually reported in 2 dimensions and focus on the shoreline movement. Few studies have attempted to compute the volumes eroded by coastal retreat. The goal of this study is to connect planimetric and volumetric coastal erosion measurements and to serve as an update of coastal erosion rates in the most recent years on Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk (HIQ) in the Western Canadian Beaufort Sea. LiDAR-derived high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) were used to compute volumetric data for the years 2013 and 2023. For the planimetric changes we used digitized coastlines derived from satellite imagery in 2000, 2011 and 2022. Our preliminary results show that the average planimetric erosion ranges between -0.71 and -0.74 [m^2/(m*a)] for the observed periods 2000-2011 and 2011-2022. The volumetric erosion along the entire coastline of Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk experiences a drastic coastal retreat with average values of -33.18 [m^3/(m*a)] whereas the highest values occur along the northwestern, northern and northeastern coastlines of HIQ. This increase can have large implications on the near-shore ecosystems of the island and extensive impacts for the settlement on Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk in the future.



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Conference (Poster)
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Published
Eprint ID
60000
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Rometsch, M. and Lantuit, H. (2025): Assessing planimetric and volumetric coastal changes on Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk, Yukon, Canada


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