Multiple modes of shoreline change along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea observed using ICESat-2 altimetry and satellite imagery

Bryant, Marnie B.; Borsa, Adrian A.; Anderson, Eric J.; Masteller, Claire C.; Michaelides, Roger J.; Siegfried, Matthew R.; Young, Adam P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1825-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1825-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1825-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 5

Research article

|

12 May 2025

Research article |

| 12 May 2025

Multiple modes of shoreline change along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea observed using ICESat-2 altimetry and satellite imagery

Marnie B. Bryant, Adrian A. Borsa, Eric J. Anderson, Claire C. Masteller, Roger J. Michaelides, Matthew R. Siegfried, and Adam P. Young

Data sets

Shorelines, elevation transects and environmental data for Drew Point, Ak study area, 2019-2022 Marnie B. Bryant et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14777976

TLAS/ICESat-2 L2A Global Geolocated Photon Data T. A. Neumann et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL03.006

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Model code and software

mbbryant/ICESat2_Planet_North_Slope: Release v1.0.0 Marnie B. Bryant https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14777817

Short summary

We measure shoreline change across a 7 km stretch of coastline on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast between 2019 and 2022 using multispectral imagery from Planet and satellite altimetry from ICESat-2. We find that shoreline change rates are high and variable and that different shoreline types show distinct patterns of change in shoreline position and topography. We discuss how the observed changes may be driven by both time-varying ocean and air conditions and spatial variations in morphology.