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A revised coastal sensitivity index for Canada's marine coasts calculated using nonparametric statistics

This study applied an alternative nonparametric method of calculation, known as μ-statistics, to Canada's marine coasts to provide an improved measure of coastal sensitivity.

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Creator S.V. Hatcher and G.K. Manson
Summary In this study, we applied an alternative nonparametric method of calculation, known as μ-statistics, to Canada's marine coasts to provide an improved measure of coastal sensitivity. μ-statistics, which offer a mathematically sound method of aggregating ordinal indicators, have a number of theoretical advantages over the classic and geometric mean methods. In practice, when applied to Canada’s marine coasts, we find that the μ-statistics method (1) compresses the mid-range variability in the resulting sensitivity index, (2) accentuates positive and negative distribution tails, and (3) minimizes propagated errors by 190% and 50%, respectively, compared with the classic and geometric mean methods. Additionally, the μ-statistics method has a theoretical foundation that relieves the necessity to empirically validate the aggregating assumptions and relies only on the assumptions inherent in the scoring method. μ-statistics thus provide a new, rigorous method for the calculation of coastal sensitivity indices when the underlying variables have ordinal scores.
Local Relevance This study provides a revised coastal sensitivity index for Canada's marine coasts, which has implications for our understanding of the sensitivity of coastlines and vunlerability of coastal communities in the NWT.
Notes
Tags Marine,Coast,Coastal Sensitivity Index
Geographic Region Beaufort Delta
Release Date 2021-06-30
Last Modified Date 2021-06-30
Funding Program