Rapid Alaskan Erosion

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03/27/2009

Mar. 27, 2009

Rapid Alaskan Erosion

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A 40-mile stretch of Alaskan coastline along the Beaufort Sea is eroding at a rate of 45 feet per year. That's double the erosion rate of just a few years ago. We'll talk with a researcher studying the rapid crumbling of the strip of coastline. A study describing the work was recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. Though the team is not yet ready to definitively pin the cause of the increased erosion rate on any one factor, changing conditions such as declining sea ice extent, increasing summertime sea-surface temperature, rising sea level, and increases in storm power may have all contributed to the coastal decline.

Produced by Flora Lichtman, Correspondent and Managing Editor, Video

Guests

Christopher Arp
Research Ecologist

U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center

Anchorage, Alaska

Mar. 27, 2009