Towards a physics-based parameterization of pan-Arctic shoreline erosion

Arctic coastlines are increasingly vulnerable to erosion due to warmer temperatures destabilizing frozen cliffs, reduced protection of sea ice cover and bigger waves, especially as freeze-up becomes delayed further into the fall storm season. We have coupled a bathystrophic storm surge model to a simple numerical model of erosion of a partially frozen cliff and beach. This is a first step towards parameterization of Arctic shoreline erosion for larger-scale models that are not able to resolve the fine spatial scale (0 - 40m) needed to capture shoreline erosion rates from years to decades.