**Acknowledgments**

*Arctic Studies - A Proxy for Climate Change*

**34**

**Figure 5.**

**Figure 4.**

**7. Conclusions**

*Total erosion as a function of number of storm surges [10].*

lead to an increasing coastal erosion.

the end of each sub-period and erodes all melted material.

*The effect of number of storms on the total erosion as a function of time [10].*

cases of storm surge were examined: the period between May and September was divided into sub-periods. It was then assumed that a storm surge hits the shore at

**Figure 5**, which shows the total erosion as number of storms/storm surges.

As can be seen in **Figure 4**, the results correspond to the expectations—the erosion rate is increased as the number of storms rises. This result is further detailed in

Undoubtedly, people and operations are facing extreme challenges in the Arctic Ocean. From polar lows and sudden storms to icing and iceberg drifts. However, more and more often, people are coming across extreme waves and permafrost erosion to an extent that has never been witnessed before. One of the reasons of this change is believed to be the melting of the ice and the alteration of the physical environment in the Arctic area. Wind blows over larger areas of the sea surface which consequently leads to more extreme wave phenomena and coastal erosion. Additionally, the increase of the annual average temperature and the prolongment of the warm periods influence the aforementioned phenomena which consequently

In this chapter, it is shown how such an ice shrinkage can influence the development of the waves by increasing the fetch length that will generate the examined waves. Additional research supports the aforementioned assumption, since measurements have testified that increase of the wave heights in areas where the waves were relatively mild. Of course, the outcomes from such research activities vary and

The first author would like to thank Dr. Athanassios A. Dimas, Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Patras, for clarifying uncertainties during the research.

*Arctic Studies - A Proxy for Climate Change*
