Speaker: Emily Eidam, Assistant Professor, Coastal & Fluvial Sediment Dynamics Lab, CEOAS, Oregon State University

Topic:  Sediment dynamics of Arctic coasts and continental shelves 

 Arctic environments are rapidly changing, with implications for oceanographic and geologic processes in coastal and shelf systems. Climate shifts have led to reduced seasonal sea ice, a more energetic wave climate, and accelerated coastal retreat (spurred by permafrost thaw and increased erosion by waves). Changes in river hydrology are also anticipated (though historic data for comparison are limited). Coastal and riverine changes are expected to generate increased sediment flux to the Arctic Ocean – but how will that change manifest, and how will changes in ocean dynamics play a role? Answering these questions requires knowledge of present sedimentary features and processes in Arctic coastal and shelf settings. In this seminar I will present an overview of current literature (much of which is anchored in agency studies from the 1980s during oil industry development), and describe new field investigations of seabed features and sediment transport processes offshore of Icy Cape (Blossom Shoals) in the Chukchi Sea and Harrison Bay (offshore of the Colville Delta) in the Beaufort Sea. I will also address ongoing morphodynamic modeling work related to loss of sea ice from arctic continental shelves and arctic deltas.