Background: Climate change is driving rapid changes in sub-arctic glacier fed coastal systems worldwide, resulting in concomitant changes in proglacial topography and sediment flux. These coastal systems are observed to prograde by up to 4kms over several days following episodic and catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods, before rapid retreat as a result of erosion and reworking by energetic waves. In a landscape dominated by these episodic, high magnitude sediment inputs, it is unclear how the coastline is evolving over longer timescales. The combined influences of climate-induced sea-level rise, isostatic uplift, glacial recession, and large fluxes of sediment to the coast make predicting and managing the behaviour of these systems complex. In Iceland, critical local infrastructure around Skeiðarársandur is at severe risk of compromise, with erosion rates near the main highway reaching 8/m year over the last 100 years. Understanding how glacial-derived sediments can persist at the coast in the face of rising sea levels is therefore of critical importance for the management of these systems over the coming decades.
Aims & Objectives: This project will examine the key factors controlling coastal zone dynamics on one of worlds largest active glacier meltwater fed outwash systems (Skeiðarársandur). This project aims to quantify how climate-driven accelerations in sea-level rise and glacial melting have influenced shoreline evolution over the last decades, and make predictions as system responses should these climate-driven accelerations continue.
Methods: Remote sensing and field data acquisition will allow: (1) mapping of coastline, river mouth and barrier position; (2) mapping of distribution of coastal depositional forms; (3) characterisation of coastal zone sedimentology and architecture through ground penetrating radar; (4) deployment of timelapse cameras.
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