An Analysis of Coastal Erosion Along the Chukchi Coast at Barrow, Alaska Leanne R. Lestak, William F. Manley, James A. Maslanik, Amanda H. Lynch and Timothy Buckley University of Colorado and Barrow High School Photo provided by Alaska Division of Emergency Services

Introduction What we found Methods Some hypotheses Future work A close-up look at the photomaps

The focus of this NSF project Coastal change between 1948 and 1997 Community dynamics

September 1986 Storm Photos from The Open Lead Leavitt house

What we found in Barrow 1997 Shoreline in Green1948 Shoreline in Red 37 m

Methods Orthorectified 1997 aerial photography Mosaic photos together Register 1948 photos to 1997 photos Digitize shorelines and bluff bottoms Analyze difference in shoreline locations Horizontal accuracy ca. 3.5 m

Orthorectify 1997 photos Graphic from NASA Photo contains distortionsRegister photo to Map using GCPs Graphic from Richard Burns, PLS Caltrans Geometronics

Register 1948 photos to 1997 photos Mosaic Photos Together

Digitize shorelines and bluff bottoms Analyze difference in shoreline locations Horizontal accuracy ca. 3.5 m

No erosion south of gravel pit High erosion at bluffs in Barrow Aggradation in Browerville Erosion is not continuous, it’s episodic Short-term erosion vs. long-term erosion, problems are different

Why is there no change south of the gravel pit?

Bathymetry

Geomorphology Permafrost differences Curve in coastline What do you think?

Future work This data is yours (NSB, High School, BASC) This is a preliminary study We will have intervening photo years: 29 July Aug 1955 Summer July July 1979 Summer 2002 (Quickbird image)

QuickBird satellite imagery. Radar Imagery 70 cm (2 ft) pixels for panchromatic imagery (Black and White) 2.8 m (8 ft) pixels for multi-spectral imagery (Red, Blue, Green, and Near- InfraRed bands) 4 of 5 scenes successfully acquired Aug. 1 and 2 Fifth scene acquired before Aug. 31, pending cloud-free conditions Preliminary “Browse Image” from Aug. 1, Barrow and Chukchi coast. Preliminary close-up of buildings on Gas Well Road (70-cm resolution panchromatic image).

Future work Study will extend up to Point Barrow Is this study reasonable? What else should we look at?

Let’s have a look at the photo maps