Rapid retreat of permafrost coastline observed with aerial drone photogrammetry

Cunliffe, Andrew M.; Tanski, George; Radosavljevic, Boris; Palmer, William F.; Sachs, Torsten; Lantuit, Hugues; Kerby, Jeffrey T.; Myers-Smith, Isla H.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1513-2019

Articles | Volume 13, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1513-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1513-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 5

Research article

|

27 May 2019

Research article |

| 27 May 2019

Rapid retreat of permafrost coastline observed with aerial drone photogrammetry

Andrew M. Cunliffe, George Tanski, Boris Radosavljevic, William F. Palmer, Torsten Sachs, Hugues Lantuit, Jeffrey T. Kerby, and Isla H. Myers-Smith

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1513-2019-supplement

Data sets

Aerial images of eroding permafrost coastline, Qikiqtaruk - Hershel Island, Yukon, Canada Andrew M. Cunliffe, George Tanski, Boris Radosavljevic, William, Palmer, Torsten Sachs, Jeffrey T. Kerby, and Isla H. Myers-Smith https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.901852

Video supplement

Timelapse Video of Eroding Permafrost Coastline A. Cunliffe, W. Palmer, and G. Tanski https://doi.org/10.5446/40250

Short summary

Episodic changes of permafrost coastlines are poorly understood in the Arctic. By using drones, satellite images, and historic photos we surveyed a permafrost coastline on Qikiqtaruk – Herschel Island. We observed short-term coastline retreat of 14.5 m per year (2016–2017), exceeding long-term average rates of 2.2 m per year (1952–2017). Our study highlights the value of these tools to assess understudied episodic changes of eroding permafrost coastlines in the context of a warming Arctic.