Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Science Center Objects
Estuarine processes, hazards, and ecosystems describes several interdisciplinary projects that aim to quantify and understand estuarine processes through observations and numerical modeling. Both the spatial and temporal scales of these mechanisms are important, and therefore require modern instrumentation and state-of-the-art hydrodynamic models. These projects are led from the U.S. Geological Survey's Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, but are collaborative projects that include participation from other U.S. Geological Survey offices, other federal and state agencies, and academic institutions.
Estuaries are dynamic environments where complex interactions between the atmosphere, ocean, watershed, ecosystems, and human infrastructure take place. They serve as valuable ecological habitat and provide numerous ecosystem services and recreational opportunities. However, they are modified by physical processes such as storms and sea-level rise, while anthropogenic impacts such as nutrient loading threaten ecosystem function within estuaries. This project collects basic observational data on these processes, develops numerical models of the processes, and applies the models to understand the past, present, and future states of estuaries.
Measuring parameters such as water velocity, salinity, sediment concentration, dissolved oxygen and other constituents in watersheds, tidal wetlands, estuaries, and coasts is critical for evaluating the socioeconomic and ecological function of those regions. Technological advances have made it possible to autonomously measure these parameters over timescales of weeks to months. These measurements are necessary to evaluate three-dimensional numerical models that can represent the spatial and temporal complexity of these parameters. Once the models adequately represent relevant aspects of the physical system, they can be used to evaluate possible future scenarios including sea-level rise, streamflow changes, land-use modifications, and geomorphic evolution.
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Date published: March 5, 2018Status: ActiveEstuarine Processes Model Development
We are developing new routines within the COAWST model framework to represent coupled bio-physical processes in estuarine and coastal regions. These include routines for marsh vulnerability to waves, estuarine biogeochemistry, and feedbacks between aquatic vegetation and hydrodynamics.
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Date published: March 5, 2018Status: ActiveEstuarine Processes Eutrophication
Increased loadings of nutrients to estuaries have altered ecosystem function by encouraging growth of phytoplankton and macroalgae while inducing large swings in dissolved oxygen and threatening the sustainability of seagrass meadows. We are measuring and modeling these processes to understand the future trajectory of estuarine ecosystems.
Attribution: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: March 5, 2018Status: ActiveEstuarine Processes Tidal Wetlands
Tidal wetlands are an important geomorphic and ecological feature of the coastal zone. Our projects deal with the physical forcings that affect wetland stability over event-to-annual timescales, including wave attack, sediment supply, and sea-level rise.
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Date published: March 5, 2018Status: ActiveEstuarine Processes Coastal Hazards
Extreme tides and coastal storms transfer high water levels to estuaries through natural and managed entrances. The size of the transfer depends on the duration of the event and the geomorphology of the estuary. We use observational data and modeling scenarios to understand and spatially map this transfer at our study sites.
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Date published: March 5, 2018Status: ActiveEstuarine Processes Geomorphic Change
Changes to the geomorphic structure of estuaries impact hydrodynamics, ecosystem function, and navigation. We are implementing new methods of observing and modeling these changes using innovative field and computational approaches.
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Year Published: 2018Dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes: A review
This manuscript reviews the progresses made in the understanding of the dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes, including the dissipation of extreme water levels and wind waves across marsh surfaces, the geomorphic impact of storms on salt marshes, the preservation of hurricanes signals and deposits into the sedimentary...
Leonardi, Nicoletta; Carnacina, Iacopo; Donatelli, Carmine; Ganju, Neil K.; Plater, Andrew James; Schuerch, Mark; Temmerman, StijnAttribution: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science CenterView CitationLeonardi, N., Carnacina, I., Donatelli, C., Ganju, N., Plater, A., Schuerch, M., Temmerman, S., 2018, Dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes: a review: Geomorphology, v. 301, 92-107 p doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.11.001.
Dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes: A review
This manuscript reviews the progresses made in the understanding of the dynamic interactions between coastal storms and salt marshes, including the dissipation of extreme water levels and wind waves across marsh surfaces, the geomorphic impact of storms on salt marshes, the preservation of hurricanes signals and deposits into the sedimentary...
Leonardi, Nicoletta; Carnacina, Iacopo; Donatelli, Carmine; Ganju, Neil K.; Plater, Andrew James; Schuerch, Mark; Temmerman, Stijn Physical response of a back-barrier estuary to a post-tropical cyclone
This paper presents a modeling investigation of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport response of Chincoteague Bay (VA/MD, USA) to Hurricane Sandy using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment-Transport (COAWST) modeling system. Several simulation scenarios with different combinations of remote and local forces were conducted to identify the...
Beudin, Alexis; Ganju, Neil Kamal; Defne, Zafer; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo Sensitivity analysis of a coupled hydrodynamic-vegetation model using the effectively subsampled quadratures method
Coastal hydrodynamics can be greatly affected by the presence of submerged aquatic vegetation. The effect of vegetation has been incorporated into the Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) Modeling System. The vegetation implementation includes the plant-induced three-dimensional drag, in-canopy wave-induced streaming, and the...
Kalra, Tarandeep S.; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo; Seshadri, Pranay; Ganju, Neil K.; Beudin, Alexis Observations and a linear model of water level in an interconnected inlet-bay system
A system of barrier islands and back-barrier bays occurs along southern Long Island, New York, and in many coastal areas worldwide. Characterizing the bay physical response to water level fluctuations is needed to understand flooding during extreme events and evaluate their relation to geomorphological changes. Offshore sea level is one of the...
Aretxabaleta, Alfredo; Ganju, Neil K.; Butman, Bradford; Signell, Richard Development of a coupled wave-flow-vegetation interaction model
Emergent and submerged vegetation can significantly affect coastal hydrodynamics. However, most deterministic numerical models do not take into account their influence on currents, waves, and turbulence. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a wave-flow-vegetation module into a Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST)...
Beudin, Alexis; Kalra, Tarandeep S.; Ganju, Neil K.; Warner, John C. Spatially integrative metrics reveal hidden vulnerability of microtidal salt marshes
Salt marshes are valued for their ecosystem services, and their vulnerability is typically assessed through biotic and abiotic measurements at individual points on the landscape. However, lateral erosion can lead to rapid marsh loss as marshes build vertically. Marsh sediment budgets represent a spatially integrated measure of competing...
Ganju, Neil K.; Defne, Zafer; Kirwan, Matthew L.; Fagherazzi, Sergio; D'Alpaos, Andrea; Carniello, Luca Spectral wave dissipation by submerged aquatic vegetation in a back-barrier estuary
Submerged aquatic vegetation is generally thought to attenuate waves, but this interaction remains poorly characterized in shallow-water field settings with locally generated wind waves. Better quantification of wave–vegetation interaction can provide insight to morphodynamic changes in a variety of environments and also is relevant to the...
Nowacki, Daniel J. ; Beudin, Alexis; Ganju, Neil K. Quantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in a back-barrier estuary
Geomorphology is a fundamental control on ecological and economic function of estuaries. However, relative to open coasts, there has been little quantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in back-barrier estuaries. Vessel-based and airborne bathymetric mapping can cover large areas quickly, but change detection is difficult because...
Ganju, Neil K.; Suttles, Steven E.; Beudin, Alexis; Nowacki, Daniel J. ; Miselis, Jennifer L.; Andrews, Brian D. Balanced sediment fluxes in southern California’s Mediterranean-climate zone salt marshes
Salt marsh elevation and geomorphic stability depends on mineral sedimentation. Many Mediterranean-climate salt marshes along southern California, USA coast import sediment during El Niño storm events, but sediment fluxes and mechanisms during dry weather are potentially important for marsh stability. We calculated tidal creek sediment fluxes...
Rosencranz, Jordan A.; Ganju, Neil K.; Ambrose, Richard F.; Brosnahan, Sandra M.; Dickhudt, Patrick J.; Guntenspergen, Glenn R.; MacDonald, Glen M.; Takekawa, John Y.; Thorne, Karen M. Progress and challenges in coupled hydrodynamic-ecological estuarine modeling
Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational power, and incorporation of uncertainty. Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological...
Ganju, Neil K.; Brush, Mark J.; Rashleigh, Brenda; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo L.; del Barrio, Pilar; Grear, Jason S.; Harris, Lora A.; Lake, Samuel J.; McCardell, Grant; O'Donnell, James; Ralston, David K.; Signell, Richard P.; Testa, Jeremy; Vaudrey, Jamie M. P. Estimating time-dependent connectivity in marine systems
Hydrodynamic connectivity describes the sources and destinations of water parcels within a domain over a given time. When combined with biological models, it can be a powerful concept to explain the patterns of constituent dispersal within marine ecosystems. However, providing connectivity metrics for a given domain is a three-dimensional problem...
Defne, Zafer; Ganju, Neil K.; Aretxabaleta, Alfredo Colored dissolved organic matter in shallow estuaries: relationships between carbon sources and light attenuation
Light availability is of primary importance to the ecological function of shallow estuaries. For example, benthic primary production by submerged aquatic vegetation is contingent upon light penetration to the seabed. A major component that attenuates light in estuaries is colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). CDOM is often measured via a proxy...
Oestreich, W.K.; Ganju, Neil K.; Pohlman, John; Suttles, Steven E.-
Date published: April 4, 2018U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Data Collection
Oceanographic time-series measurements made by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1975 and the present as part of research programs. The data were collected to address specific research questions and were primarily collected over durations less than a year, using stationary platforms, with sensors near the sea floor. These data have been used to study of ocean dynamics and to validate ocean...
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Date published: October 11, 2018Mean tidal range in marsh units of Plum Island Estuary and Parker River salt marsh complex, Massachusetts
This dataset displays the spatial variation of mean tidal range (i.e. Mean Range of Tides, MN) in the Plum Island Estuary and Parker River (PIEPR) salt marsh complex based on conceptual marsh units defined by Defne and Ganju (2018). MN was based on the calculated difference in height between mean high water (MHW) and mean low water (MLW) using the VDatum (v3.5) database.
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Date published: October 11, 2018Unvegetated to vegetated marsh ratio in Plum Island Estuary and Parker River salt marsh complex, Massachusetts
Through scientific efforts initiated with the Hurricane Sandy Science Plan, the USGS has been expanding national assessment of coastal change hazards and forecast products to coastal wetlands, including the Plum Island Estuary and Parker River salt marsh complex, with the intent of providing Federal, State, and local managers tools to estimate the vulnerability and ecosystem service potential...
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Date published: October 10, 2018Conceptual marsh units for Plum Island Estuary and Parker River salt marsh complex, Massachusetts
The salt marsh complex of Plum Island Estuary and Parker River was delineated to smaller, conceptual marsh units by geoprocessing of surface elevation data. Flow accumulation based on the relative elevation of each location was used to determine the ridge lines that separate each marsh unit while the surface slope was used to automatically assign each unit a drainage point, where water drains...
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Date published: March 28, 2018Mean tidal range in salt marsh units of Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
This dataset displays the spatial variation mean tidal range (i.e. Mean Range of Tides, MN) in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, USA. MN was based on the calculated difference in height between mean high water (MHW) and mean low water (MLW) using the VDatum (v3.5) software (...
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Date published: March 27, 2018
Exposure potential of salt marsh units in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge to environmental health stressors
This dataset displays the exposure potential to environmental health stressors in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, USA. Exposure potential is calculated with the Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) ranking system (Reilly and others, 2015)
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Date published: March 26, 2018
Conceptual salt marsh units for wetland synthesis: Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
Recent research shows that sediment budgets of microtidal marsh complexes on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States consistently scale with areal unvegetated/vegetated marsh ratio (UVVR) despite differences in sea-level rise, tidal range, elevation, vegetation, and stressors. This highlights UVVR as a broadly applicable indicator of microtidal marsh stability.
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Date published: March 26, 2018Wetland data layers derived from Barnegat Bay Little Egg Harbor hydrodynamic model
As part of this data synthesis effort, hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling of Barnegat Bay Little Egg Harbor (BBLEH) has been used to create the following wetland data layers in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), New Jersey: 1) Hydrodynamic residence time , 2) salinity change and 3) salinity exposure change in wetlands, and 4) sediment supply to wetlands
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Date published: February 12, 2018Shoreline change rates in salt marsh units in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
This dataset displays shoreline change rates at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, USA
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Date published: December 31, 2017
Discharge Measurements in Bayou Heron and Bayou Middle, Grand Bay, Mississippi, January 2017
Grand Bay, a 30-square-kilometer embayment of the Gulf of Mexico bordered by 20 square kilometers of salt marsh, is experiencing rapid lateral shoreline erosion at up to 5 meters per year. Determining whether the eroded sediment is exported to the deep ocean or imported via tidal channels and deposited on the marsh platform is critical to understanding the long-term response of the marsh to...
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Date published: October 2, 2017Continuous terrain model for water circulation studies, Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. U.S. Geological Survey Data Release.
Water quality in the Barnegat Bay estuary along the New Jersey coast is the focus of a multidisciplinary research project begun in 2011 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Attribution: New Jersey Water Science Center
Steve Suttles and Neil Ganju surveying the position of a deployed oceanographic platform in Great South Bay, NY
Neil Ganju (standing) and Patrick Dickhudt preparing an oceanographic platform to measure wetland sediment transport in Forsythe NWR, New Jersey
Inundated marsh at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey.
Flood tidal shoal at Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey (courtesy USGS EROS NAIP orthophotography)
Measuring seagrass biomass in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland to constrain numerical models.
Storm induced erosion of marsh shorelines can provide significant quantities of sediment to the bay altering the deposition patterns.
Surface sediments will be analyzed for various physical parameters that will be used as initial conditions in hydrodynamic and sediment transport models.
Box-cores provide a relatively undistributed look into the recent past to help better understand the processes contributing to sediment deposition and erosion.
Sunset over Barnegat Bay and Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
Visualization of hydrodynamics around seagrass patch.
Satellite image of Hurricane Sandy (courtesy NASA GOES http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/)
Macroalgae, seagrass, and litter in West Falmouth Harbor, MA
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Date published: May 3, 2018Focus on Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands
Estuaries and wetlands provide a critical defense against storms and sea-level rise while providing economically valuable services. How well they protect coastal communities and host diverse ecosystems is largely a function of their shape (morphology), which is controlled by factors such as sediment movement and biological feedbacks.