Changes in hydrodynamics and wave energy as a result of seagrass decline along the shoreline of a microtidal back-barrier estuary

Donatelli, Carmine; Ganju, Neil K.; Kalra, Tarandeep S.; Fagherazzi, Sergio; Leonardi, Nicoletta

doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2019.04.017

Cited by 30 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Ganju et al (2017) have shown that the sediment budget of the marsh‐tidal flat complex scales with the unvegetated/vegetated marsh ratio of the estuarine system, suggesting that this metric can be used as an indicator of marsh vulnerability. However, the external inputs and outputs of sediment are not the only factors influencing the marsh capability to retain sediments, and the sediment dynamics within the marsh complex can also cause spatial and temporal variability in the sediment budget (e.g., Donatelli et al, 2018, 2019; Li & Yang, 2009; Mei et al, 2016; Temmerman et al, 2005; Zhang et al, 2019).…”

Section: Assessment Of Marsh Vulnerability and Resilience Through Sedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

et al. 2020

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Salt marshes are dynamic systems able to laterally expand, contract, and vertically accrete in response to sea level rise. Here, we present the grand challenges that need to be addressed to fully characterize marsh morphodynamics. The review focuses on physical processes and quantitative models. Without predictive models, it is impossible to determine the future marsh evolution under accelerated sea level rise. In these models, one of the challenges is to resolve both horizontal and vertical dynamics within the same framework. Vertically, the marsh has to accumulate enough material to contrast rising water levels. Horizontally, marsh erosion at the ocean side must be compensated by landward expansion in forests, lawns, and agricultural fields. The dynamics of the marsh‐upland boundary are still not fully understood and will require more research in the upcoming years. The complexity of marsh vegetation is seldom captured in predictive models of marsh evolution. More research is needed to understand the effects of each species or species assemblages on hydrodynamics and sediment transport. Here, we further advocate that a sediment budget resolving all sediment fluxes in a marsh complex is the most important metric of marsh resilience. Characterization of these fluxes will enable to connect salt marshes to other landforms and to unravel feedbacks controlling the evolution of the entire coastal system. Current models of marsh evolution rely on sparse data sets collected at few locations. Novel remote sensing techniques will provide high‐resolution spatial data that will inform a new generation of computer models.

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Section: Assessment Of Marsh Vulnerability and Resilience Through Sedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

et al. 2020

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“…In conditions with emergent vegetation h v ′ = h, and h v ′ is the average height of the submerged parts in conditions with varied vegetation height. Figure 8 shows the comparisons between the longitudinal diffusion coefficients observed in this study and (5)…”

Section: (4)mentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Aquatic vegetation is abundant in estuaries, wetlands, and along streams and rivers. It has a major influence on the water environment, affecting flow velocities [1][2][3][4][5], turbulence structures [6][7][8], sediment suspension [9][10][11], and the process of solute mixing [12][13][14][15][16]. Vegetation not only enhances solute mixing and diffusion due to the effects of the plant stem wake [17], but also decreases mechanical diffusion due to the physical obstructions changing the transport path of the solute [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal and lateral diffusion of solute transport in flow with rigid vegetation

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Background: Aquatic vegetation has major influence on the local water environment, affecting flow velocities and solute mixing. Extensive research has been conducted on the flow characteristics of vegetated areas, but little is known about solute transport. In this study, Laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate how solute transport is affected by emergent and submerged rigid vegetation. Results: Vegetation greatly reduces the mean velocity, especially within the vegetated region. Near the bottom, the solute concentration is greater in the dense vegetation than in the sparse vegetation. The vertical distribution of the solute concentration decreases rapidly with the relative water depth. Generally, the longitudinal and lateral diffusion coefficients are less affected by denser vegetation, but both coefficients are strongly influenced by the relative water depth (submerged vegetation height). Conclusions: A modified function to estimate the longitudinal diffusion coefficients is proposed under both emergent and submerged vegetation conditions, including cases of variable vegetation height. The key parameters (a' and b') for the assessment of the lateral diffusion coefficients are improved considering vegetation height. Results in the present paper can be used as efficient and convenient methods to estimate the longitudinal and lateral diffusion coefficients in flow with rigid vegetation.

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“…Details of the numerical model set-up are available in Donatelli et al. [1], and Defne & Ganju [3]. The wave thrust (the integral along the vertical of the dynamic pressure of waves) acting on marsh boundaries is explicitly computed by the model following Tonelli et al.…”

Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dataset of numerical modelling results of wave thrust on salt marsh boundaries with different seagrass coverages in a shallow back-barrier estuary

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This article contains data on the effects of seagrass decline on wave energy along the shoreline of Barnegat Bay (USA) previously evaluated in Donatelli et al., 2019. This study was carried out applying the Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) numerical modelling framework to six historical maps of seagrass distribution. A new routine recently implemented in COAWST was used, which explicitly computes the wave thrust acting on salt marsh boundaries. The numerical modelling results are reported in terms of wind-wave heights for different seagrass coverages, wind speeds and directions. From a comparison with a numerical experiment without submerged aquatic vegetation, we show how the computed wave thrust on marsh boundaries can be reduced by seagrass beds.

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Changes in hydrodynamics and wave energy as a result of seagrass decline along the shoreline of a microtidal back-barrier estuary

Cited by 30 publications

References 67 publications

Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

Longitudinal and lateral diffusion of solute transport in flow with rigid vegetation

Dataset of numerical modelling results of wave thrust on salt marsh boundaries with different seagrass coverages in a shallow back-barrier estuary

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