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Project Leader | Pier Paul Overduin | Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) | Paul.Overduin@awi.de |
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Project Leader | Nicole Couture | Natural Resources Canada Geological Survey of Canada | ncouture@nrcan.gc.ca |
Though generally only a few kilometers wide (except in the vicinity of large deltas), the coastal zone of the Arctic Ocean is the site of dramatic changes in not only the land and ocean but also in the cryosphere and biosphere. The Arctic coastlines are highly variable, can be stable or extremely dynamic and are the site of most of the human activity that occurs at high latitudes. Extraction of natural resources occurs in many locations around the Arctic Ocean creating the need for port facilities and the potential for pollution. These pressures are only likely to increase with time.
The Arctic Coastal Dynamics (ACD) project was established in 2000 to focus and coordinate circumpolar research on these physical processes that are unique to cold coasts in the northern regions. ACD is a multi-disciplinary, multi-national forum to exchange ideas and information. The overall objective is to improve our understanding of circum-Arctic coastal dynamics as a function of environmental forcing, coastal geology and cryology and morphodynamic behavior.