HR: 1340h
AN: C13A-0256    [Abstracts]
TI: Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD)
AU: * Rachold, V
EM: vrachold@awi-potsdam.de
AF: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Telegrafenberg A43, Potsdam, 14473 Germany
AB: The coastal zone is the interface through which land-ocean exchanges in the Arctic are mediated and it is the site of most of the human activity that occurs at high latitudes. The Arctic coastlines are highly variable and their dynamics are a function of environmental forcing and coastal geology, geocryology and morphodynamic behavior. Coastal processes in the Arctic are strongly controlled by Arctic-specific phenomena, i.e. the sea-ice cover and the existence of onshore and offshore permafrost. During the short ice-free period, the unlithified ice-rich, permafrost-dominated coastlines are rapidly eroded and the resulting coastal sediment, organic carbon, and nutrient fluxes play an important role in the material budget of the Arctic Ocean. Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) is a multi-disciplinary, multi-national project of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the International Permafrost Association (IPA) which aims to: - establish the rates and magnitudes of erosion and accumulation of Arctic coasts and to estimate the amount of sediments and organic carbon derived from coastal erosion; - develop a network of long-term monitoring sites including local community-based observational sites; - refine and apply an Arctic coastal classification (includes ground-ice, permafrost, geology, etc.) in digital form (GIS format) and produce a series of thematic and derived maps (e.g. coastal classification, ground-ice, sensitivity etc.); - compile, analyze and apply existing information on relevant environmental forcing parameters (e.g. wind speed, sea-level, fetch, sea ice etc.); - identify and undertake focused research on critical processes; - develop empirical models to assess the sensitivity of Arctic coasts to environmental variability and human impacts. Currently, ca. 25 institutions from 9 countries are contributing to the ACD project. This presentation provides an overview of the research activities and the latest results of the ACD project.
DE: 9315 Arctic region
DE: 4546 Nearshore processes
DE: 1815 Erosion and sedimentation
DE: 1823 Frozen ground
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting