Report from the ARUS workshop in Abisko Research Station of the 16th and 17th January 2018. The workshop was used to develop a project agenda and key issues around changing risks in the Arctic public realm. Whilst this workshop was exploratory, the aim was to identify design challenges to urban space that climate change could bring for soft mobility.  The objective was to develop a research strategy that can develop ways to adapt Arctic settlements to these new environmental risks. The goal is to grow these agendas into research applications and funded research.

Submarine glacial landforms in fjords are imprints of the dynamic behaviour of marine-terminating glaciers and are informative about their most recent retreat phase. Here we use detailed multibeam bathymetry to map glacial landforms in Petermann Fjord and Nares Strait, northwestern Greenland. A large grounding-zone wedge (GZW) demonstrates that Petermann Glacier stabilised at the fjord mouth for a considerable time, likely buttressed by an ice shelf. This stability was followed by successive backstepping of the ice margin down the GZW's retrograde backslope forming small retreat ridges to 680 m current depth (similar to 730-800 m palaeodepth). Iceberg ploughmarks occurring somewhat deeper show that thick, grounded ice persisted to these water depths before final breakup occurred. The palaeodepth limit of the recessional moraines is consistent with final collapse driven by marine ice cliff instability (MICI) with retreat to the next stable position located underneath the present Petermann ice tongue, where the seafloor is unmapped.