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Narratives of Shoreline Erosion and Protection at Shishmaref, Alaska: The Anecdotal and the Analytical

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Pitfalls of Shoreline Stabilization

Part of the book series: Coastal Research Library ((COASTALRL,volume 3))

Abstract

Mitigating, or adapting to, the impacts of environmental change on coastal landscapes, from both social and engineering perspectives, requires accurate baseline data that must be related to geomorphic processes. However, the inherent social and environmental dynamics of the coastal zone set up a contentious situation for decision makers and researchers because of the real, perceived, and stochastic nature of catastrophic threats to human life and property loss. Anecdotal accounts and first person observations generally propel the media and influence governmental policy far more effectively than scientific data. However, claims of extreme erosion rates are more adequately addressed through photogrammetric studies of erosion. Contrary to anecdotal accounts from Shishmaref, Alaska, sequential aerial photographs from 1950 to 2007 reveal that erosion has increased on the south-facing shores of the Chukchi Sea, while prior to 1977, erosion was higher on the north-facing shores such as Shishmaref. In addition, comparisons of property records indicate that high rates of erosion prevailed prior to 1950. Several engineering solutions were attempted in Shishmaref between 1983 and 2003, including gabions and cinder block/boulder/cobble revetments, leading to increased end-around erosion downdrift and an erosion rate twice that of undeveloped, unarmored shorelines. To adapt to heightened erosion rates, societies should either retreat from the shore or confront ever-increasing engineering costs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A photo caption states: “Shishmaref, Sarichef island, Alaska. Climate change is melting the permafrost which the village is built on. The erosion of their home gives the Inuits up until 15 years to find another home (Guy-Pierre Chomette).” Argos Collective (2008).

  2. 2.

    CU Methodology: We used the DSAS-software and methodology outlined in U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005–1304 (http://woodshole.er.usgs..gov/project-pages/dsas/version3/index.html) to calculate shoreline change. Once all shorelines were digitized a baseline was created that mirrored the general shape of the shoreline and its offset approximately 150–250 m inland from the blufftop. According to the DSAS manual, Thieler et al. (2005): “the DSAS extension generates transects that are cast perpendicular to the baseline at a user specific spacing alongshore. The transect/shoreline intersections are used by the program to calculate the rate of change statistics.” Transects were cast perpendicular to the base line and spaced 10 m apart for its entire length, each transect was linked to tables containing a series of shoreline change statistics and distance measurements. The same transects were recast three times to capture coastal changes for different time periods. In each case, the change between just two time periods was calculated. For this analysis, the end-point rate (EPR) statistic was used. The EPR statistic is the measured distance between two shorelines divided by the time elapsed between the two shore line dates. The final EPR value is the yearly rate of change, positive or negative, for a given time period. For our study, all EPR units are meters per year.

  3. 3.

    Measurement errors are related to the geocorrection of aerial photographs and onscreen digitization, a simple calculation of the shoreline feature. Calculating shoreline position errors: A single yearly shoreline position error can be calculated by taking the square root of the sum of squares (Morton et al. 2004 and Fletcher et al. 2003) of geocorrection error (g) and bluff top digitization error (Bt) for each year. Thus the position error for a given year for the bluff top is shown in Equation 1: \( {E_{hear}} = \pm \surd {{\hbox{g}}^2} + {\hbox{b}}{{\hbox{t}}^2} \). Then errors are calculated for each time period (early, late or long term) by taking the square root of the sum of the squares of the two bracketing yearly error values and annualizing over the time period of interest. The “early” time period calculation is Equation 2: \( {E_{year}} = \pm {-\!- }{E_{1980s}}^2 \). This error value can be applied to any given transect. The annualized error value for the “Early” period (ca. 1950-ca. 1980) is ± 0.20 m, “Late” period (ca. 1980–2003) is ± 0.23 m and for the “Long Term” period (ca. 1950–2003) is ± 0.09 m. The signal to noise ratio is very good: the error values (“noise”) are substantially less than the annualized shoreline change rates (“signal”), particularly for the “Long Term” rates.

  4. 4.

    Mark Lynas (2003) in the New Statesman wrote: “Shishmaref lives in perpetual fear. The cliffs on which the 600-strong community sits are thawing, and during the last big storm 50 ft of ground was lost overnight. People battled 90 mph winds to save their houses from the crashing waves.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, 450, Boulder, CO, 80309-450, USA

    Owen K. Mason, Leanne Lestak & William F. Manley

  2. Department of Environmental Studies Program, Antioch University New England, 40 Avon St., Keene, NH, 03431, USA

    James W. Jordan

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  1. Owen K. Mason
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  2. James W. Jordan
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  3. Leanne Lestak
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  4. William F. Manley
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Correspondence to Owen K. Mason .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, United Kingdom

    J. Andrew G. Cooper

  2. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, 27708-0228, North Carolina, USA

    Orrin H. Pilkey

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Mason, O.K., Jordan, J.W., Lestak, L., Manley, W.F. (2012). Narratives of Shoreline Erosion and Protection at Shishmaref, Alaska: The Anecdotal and the Analytical. In: Cooper, J., Pilkey, O. (eds) Pitfalls of Shoreline Stabilization. Coastal Research Library, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4123-2_5

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