If a picture paints a thousand words, then this time-lapse video can represent an entire book’s worth ... a book by Al Gore, that is. A new multiyear study from the University of Colorado illustrates how a large swath of the Alaskan coast is eroding at the alarming rate of 45 feet per year. Three factors contribute to the loss: warmer water, melting permafrost and lashing waves. The coastline generally consists of frozen silt, which once it starts going, really doesn’t stop.

Jaymi Heimbuch writes on Treehugger:

With less ice cover during the summers to protect the shore from the ocean, and warmer ocean waters almost guaranteed, the erosion seems unstoppable. In fact, the scientists working on the study say as much. There is little evidence that this erosion has an end point. As the shoreline is made up of blocks of permafrost, the conditions basically ensure that large chunks are taken off at a time during stormy weather.

“Once one of these blocks topples, the process continues on to the next block,” Anderson said.

Deny this, climate change skeptics!

Cross posting this from Brand X