Acceleration of coastal-retreat rates for high-Arctic rock cliffs on Brøggerhalvøya, Svalbard, over the past decade

Abstract

In many Arctic regions, marine coastlines change rapidly in our currently warming climate. In contrast, coastal rock cliffs on Svalbard are considered to be relatively stable. Long-term trends of coastal-retreat rates for rock cliffs on Svalbard remain unknown, but quantifying them could improve our understanding of coastal dynamics in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. This study presents coastal-retreat rates for rock cliffs along several kilometres of Brøggerhalvøya, Svalbard. The analysis relies on high-resolution orthoimages from 1970, 1990, 2010, and 2021. The data are corroborated by high-precision dGNSS (differential Global Navigation Satellite System) measurements obtained along selected segments of the coastline. Our analysis reveals statistically significant acceleration in coastal-retreat rates across Brøggerhalvøya between 2010 and 2021. The northeast-facing coastline features fairly stable conditions, with retreat rates of 0.04 ± 0.06 m a−1 (1970–1990; calculated retreat rate ± the corresponding measurement uncertainty), 0.04 ± 0.04 m a−1 (1990–2010), and 0.06 ± 0.08 m a−1 (2010–2021). Along the southwest-facing coastline, higher retreat rates of 0.26 ± 0.06 m a−1 (1970–1990), 0.24 ± 0.04 m a−1 (1990–2010), and 0.30 ± 0.08 m a−1 (2010–2021) were calculated. For the most recent decade, this corresponds to an increase of 50 % for the northeast-facing coastline and an increase of 25 % for the southwest-facing coastline. Furthermore, for the northeast-facing coastline, the proportion of the coastline affected by erosion increased from 47 % (1970–1990) to 65 % (2010–2021), while it stayed consistently above 90 % for the southwest-facing coastline. The recent acceleration in retreat rates coincides with increasing storminess and retreating sea ice, factors that can enhance coastal erosion.