A Geospatial Database for Monitoring Arctic Coastline Dynamics: Mapping Shoreline Change in Iceland and Svalbard

Arctic coastlines are highly sensitive to climate change, resulting in significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Monitoring changes in these regions is essential for understanding long-term dynamics, identifying the most vulnerable coastlines, and providing critical information to local and international stakeholders for effective climate adaptation strategies. Geoinformation technologies, particularly Earth Observation (EO) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), have emerged as transformative solutions for tracking coastal changes across remote and data-scarce Arctic areas.

To this end, this study aims to exploit EO and GIS for developing a geospatial database that examines how coastlines in the Svalbard Archipelago and Iceland have evolved over the last four decades (1985–2025). Anniversary dates of Landsat satellite imagery were used, while all necessary preprocessing and imagery acquisition were performed in Google Earth Engine cloud platform. Coastline digitization was carried out in ArcGIS Pro using the direct photointerpretation method. In Svalbard, shoreline changes are mainly linked to ice-related processes, such as variations in ice cover. In Iceland, coastline variability reflects a combination of geomorphological processes and localized anthropogenic activity, particularly in areas affected by port development

Τhe database developed herein supports the continued monitoring of Arctic coastal environments and  offer a foundation for further investigation of coastal change in both natural and human-influenced parameters. The produced geospatial datasets provide a baseline for future analyses contributes to relevant efforts for developing open access geospatial datasets that such as the EO-PERSIST platform.  Such endeavors provide fertile ground to researchers and policymakers to better understand coastal dynamics and support evidence-based decision-making for Arctic coastal management.

Keywords: Arctic coastlines; Shoreline change; Earth Observation; Landsat; Geoinformatics; EO-PERSIST

Acknowledgement

The present research study is supported by the project “EO-PERSIST”, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program (HORIZON-MSCA-2021-SE-01-01, under grant agreement no. 101086386