http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2541492220070725ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Old Alaskan oil wells could be swallowed by the ocean as rising temperatures speed up erosion of the state's Arctic coastline.
The disappearance of sea ice that shields against storm-waves, and of permafrost that holds shorelines together, is eating away at the coast of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study.
Erosion rates have risen steeply along the coastline of the reserve -- where the administration of President George W. Bush wants to increase oil drilling -- possibly due to warmer weather, the study showed.
"Coastal erosion has more than doubled along a segment of the Arctic Alaska coast during the past half century," it said, adding the land loss was being magnified by the conversion of freshwater "thermokarst" lakes into saltwater bays as they become inundated with waters from the Arctic Ocean.
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