Effect of Cold Front‐Induced Waves Along Wetlands Boundaries

Abstract

Salt marsh wetlands are an important component of coastal ecosystems. Marsh vegetation has a significant potential role as a barrier to storm waves (Fagherazzi, 2014; Möller et al., 2014). It also allows the enclosing estuary to act as a nursery habitat for numerous shellfish and fish species (Mathieson et al., 2000). Additionally, tidal hydrodynamics facilitate the transport of vital nutrients and tracers into and out of the wetlands (during flood and ebb tides), affecting both inshore and onshore vegetation and wildlife (Mann & Lazier, 2013). However, tidal wetlands are continuously affected by sea conditions such as storm surge (Cahoon, 2006), natural and/or human-induced regional subsidence (van der Wal & Pye, 2004) and sea-level rise (Alizad et al., 2016). It has previously been shown that wind-wave activity near salt marsh wetlands is a potential

An asymmetry in wave scaling drives outsized quantities of coastal wetland erosion

“…We extracted 0.6 m by 0.3 m (horizontal footprint) by 0.15 m (vertical) wetland edge samples and then placed them into a 22.9 m by 36.6 m by 1.2 m wave basin [see movie S1; see ( 9 , 26 ) for more details]. We subjected them to a range of regular wave heights (0.01 to 0.16 m), water depths (0.05 to 0.26 m), and wave lengths (1.44 to 3.20 m) common to eroding edges.…”

“…In contrast, however, a wide range of field-based studies have identified a nonlinear fit between lateral erosion and wave power, with x = 1.10 to 1.37, e.g., (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). These studies have shown a large amount of variability in erosion across field sites, caused by differences in soil properties, vegetation, and myriad other factors (11).…”

Misaligned Wind-Waves Behind Atmospheric Cold Fronts

“…Interactions between the cold airmass of the fronts and the warmer ocean (and ocean fronts) via air-sea turbulent heat fluxes influence the intensity of these events (Parfitt et al, 2016;. The atmospheric cold fronts are also known to force significant surges and complex wave reactions that severely impact coastal and estuary circulations and wetland evolutions (Kim et al, 2020;. However, their impacts on surface drag and momentum flux in the midlatitudes are undocumented in the literature.…”

Modeling of water waves and sediment transport using physics-based and machine learning methods

“…Over the past several decades, considerable progress has been made in physics-based models based on wave action and momentum balance principles. Various numerical models have been used to estimate hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and morphological changes in coastal areas (e.g., Rego et al, 2010;Trouw et al, 2012;Li and Huang, 2013;Boudet et al, 2017;Luijendijk et al, 2017;Hopkins et al, 2017;Yao et al, 2018;Luan et al, 2018;Herrling and Winter, 2018;Yao et al, 2018;Liang et al, 2020;van Ormondt et al, 2020;Johnson et al, 2021;Ruiz-Reina and López-Ruiz, 2021;Rey et al, 2020;Kim et al, 2020;King et al, 2021;Zhu et al, 2021). For example, Hu et al (2018) applied the Delft3D modeling suite to study the influence of Hurricane Sandy (2012) on salt marsh morphology in Jamaica Bay.…”