Dynamics of the coastline and surface condition of small Arctic islands (the Vize and Ushakov ones) on the multitemporal optical and radar images

There is a clear trend in the Arctic of increasing mean annual air temperature, decreasing area and depth of the sea ice cover [IPCC, 2021], increasing open water period; the glacier edges thaw and break due to storms, high shores destruct and extensive shoals appear. These changes are most noticeable on small Arctic islands, once surrounded by thick ice fields but increasingly exposed to open water, thus making them of special interest. During the unique complex expedition “Open Ocean: Archipelagoes of the Arctic. Severnaya Zemlya-2019” on the Professor Molchanov research vessel in August-September 2019 full-scale field surveys of the islands and unmanned surveys from quadcopters were conducted. Subsequent surveys based on remote sensing data are intended to combine detailed field surveys with an overview coverage of these islands. Different nature of the islands requires applying different methods of studying their dynamics with remote sensing data. Changes in the islands’ coastline are traced using a set of different time sources, i. e. the 1957 topographic map (1 : 200 000) and space images from Landsat 5, 7 satellites. The current situation is described according to cloud-free images from Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 satellites. Multiple interferometric images of Sentinel-1B (IW – Interferometric Wide Swath) radar system processing level SLC – Single Look Complex for 2019 supported a study of the seasonal dynamics of the Vize Island surface. The multiyear dynamics of ice edge retreat was revealed for the Ushakov Island. The retreat rate analysis proved the accelerated decrease of the ice cap area since the 2010-s. We accessed the influence of changing climatic conditions on the coastline dynamics of the Vize and Ushakov islands with due account of the wind speed and direction and the air temperature. Uneven coastal erosion is characteristic of the Vize Island, and the areas with the highest rate of coastline retreat were identified, as well as new accumulative forms, e. g. bars. Multitemporal composites with coherence obtained from the radar data made it possible to characterize the seasonal dynamics of the state of the Vize island surface and its dependence on variable weather conditions. The results of research show an obvious response of the small islands’ coastlines to the climate changes of the 20th–21st centuries.

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