The highest rate of coastal erosion is observed in the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea.
The disappearance of islands and coastal erosion highlight global warming.
This was announced by the Arctic explorer Igor Semiletov, a Professor of the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), the Head of the Arctic Research Laboratory in the Pacific Oceanological Institute, RAS.
"The rate of coastal ice erosion on capes now reaches 20-30 m per summer. It makes islands disappear; for example, the Semyonov, the Vasilevsky, nd others. For the last 1 to 2 thousand years, about 40 km of land has been "eaten" by coastal erosion" - the press service of TPU quotes Prof. Semiletov.
According to scientists, especially high rate of erosion is observed in the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea - the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean. According to Prof. Semiletov, global warming does not mean that it literally gets warmer every day.
"We are talking about raising of the average global temperature. It has been proven: the rising of sea levels and melting of glaciers, including mountain glaciers, is taking place now.  s  mtter o fact, the climate curve changes from warming to cooling periods, for example, 10 thousand years ago, the temperature level was nearly the same as it is now. for the first time in modern geological history this cycle has been "broken" : now we re supposed to live in the cooling era, but the temperature level is rising instead of dropping"- the professor pointed out.
The Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) is a world's leading research center for the study of the Arctic. collaboration of 15 universities and academic institutions of Russia, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA and Italy is carried out on the basis of the international laboratory for study of the Arctic seas' carbon.
During their expeditions to the Arctic, scientists of the TPU and their colleagues found significant degradation of the submarine permafrost: the once stable ice "cork" that prevents the relese of huge reserves of gas hydrates has started "leaking". Through these holes in permafrost the powerful underwater methane emissions from the sediment reach the atmosphere.
Scientists are trying to establish how much methane is buried in huge areas of the Siberian Arctic Shelf, how much of this huge reserve can get into the atmosphere, and what impact this methane pumping may have on the climate system in the near future. This is important for long-term planning of development of the Arctic.