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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-1226</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>The new kids on the block of Arctic coasts &amp;ndash; Formation and Morphodynamics of Paraglacial Moraine Lagoons in Svalbard</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Owczarek</surname>
<given-names>Zofia Alicja</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2544-6730</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kostrzewa</surname>
<given-names>Oskar</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0302-9437</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Piskorski</surname>
<given-names>Wojciech</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Strzelecki</surname>
<given-names>Mateusz C.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0479-3565</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Alfred Jahn Cold Regions Research Centre, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, 50-137, Poland</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>18</day>
<month>03</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>29</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Zofia Alicja Owczarek et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1226/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1226/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1226/egusphere-2026-1226.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-1226/egusphere-2026-1226.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>As Arctic amplification accelerates glacier retreat, new dynamic landscapes are emerging at the interface of terrestrial and marine systems. This study identifies and analyses a distinct coastal landform: the Paraglacial Moraine Lagoon (PML). Formed by coastal barriers composed of terminal or lateral moraines deposited during the Little Ice Age, PMLs represent a critical yet understudied component of the glacier&amp;ndash;climate change feedback system. Using a multi-decadal record (1936&amp;ndash;2024) comprising aerial photography, satellite imagery, and the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), we quantified the evolution of fourteen PML systems across the Svalbard Archipelago. Our results show that PMLs now occupy over 56 % of Svalbard&apos;s total lagoon area (ca. 83 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;), nearly triple the area they occupied in the 1930s. We identify two divergent evolutionary trajectories: (1) an erosional&amp;ndash;fragmenting pathway (e.g., Tjuvfjordlaguna), where marine forcing leads to barrier narrowing and inlet expansion, and (2) a stabilizing&amp;ndash;isolating pathway (e.g., Femtelaguna), where land-terminating glaciers drive rapid terrestrial sediment infilling and barrier progradation. We argue that PMLs function as essential &quot;paraglacial sinks&quot; trapping glaciogenic sediments and organic matter, thereby creating sheltered biodiversity hubs in otherwise harsh coastal environments. As transient features, the formation and eventual destruction of PMLs serve as a high-resolution proxy for the rapid paraglacial adjustment of polar coastlines.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="29"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Narodowym Centrum Nauki</funding-source>
<award-id>UMO–2020/37/B/ST10/03074</award-id>
<award-id>UMO–2020/38/E/ST10/00042</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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