Family Life

12.22.09 | FL News Team

Chunks of Alaska's North Slope are dropping into the sea at an alarming rate, posing a threat to both oil operations and wildlife. Scientists at the University of Colorado took three years' worth of time-lapse photos of the coastline midway between Prudhoe Bay and Point Barrow, the nation's northernmost spot. Researchers combined the photos with data gleaned from GPS and weather monitoring and from their analysis of sediment and sea ice. They found the North Slope eroding at a frantic pace of 45 feet a year.

 Lead author Irina Overeem described icy cliffs deteriorating, saying, quote, "There's a notching effect that just notches, notches, notches and then topples over." Scientists worry that the crumbling Alaska coastline could collapse beneath oilfield infrastructure and abandoned military outposts and their waste dumps. The findings were presented during last week's American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. Meanwhile, a researcher with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska says he's seen saltwater swamping lakes and ponds, killing off freshwater plants and fish and displacing birds that feed and nest there.