Fluvial erosion linked to warming in the Arctic

Warming temperatures have been invoked as a potential mechanism for widespread erosion in Arctic regions where significant portions of watersheds are underlain by permanently frozen, carbon-rich soils. Yet, recent studies have delivered conflicting results regarding how erosion along Arctic rivers has and will respond to rising temperatures. Using novel methods that produced 92,009 observations, we show that erosion rates along rivers across the Canadian Arctic are positively correlated to temperature and uncorrelated with vegetative cover over the satellite record (1985-present). Our results indicate warming will lead to increased erosion in the Arctic and that vegetation will not mediate temperature’s erosive effect, leading to the potential mobilization of gigatons of previously immobile carbon.