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Alfredo Aretxabaleta , PhD

Alfredo's (he/him/his),  research mainly focuses in processes controlling water level in coastal environments including tidal effects, storm events, and sea level rise. Another important focus is the investigation of the problems related to sediment transport, especially during storm events, that can affect the redistribution of sediment.

I have a B.S. degree in Marine Sciences (1998) from the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and a Ph.D. in Marine Sciences (Physical Oceanography) from UNC Chapel Hill (2005). I worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Marine Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (AOPE), and at the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar - CSIC in Barcelona, Spain. I worked as a scientific programmer contractor at U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC) until 2016. Now, I am an oceanographer at the WHCMSC.

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Making USGS/NOAA Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast data accessible through user-friendly interfaces

The Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast delivers 6-day forecasts of hourly water levels and the probability of waves impacting dunes along 5000 km of sandy coasts along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and will soon expand to the Pacific. These forecasts provide needed information to local governments and federal partners and are used by the USGS to place sensors before a storm. The forec
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Community for Data Integration (CDI)
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Making USGS/NOAA Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast data accessible through user-friendly interfaces

The Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast delivers 6-day forecasts of hourly water levels and the probability of waves impacting dunes along 5000 km of sandy coasts along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and will soon expand to the Pacific. These forecasts provide needed information to local governments and federal partners and are used by the USGS to place sensors before a storm. The forec
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Screen grab of coupled ocean atmosphere wave sediment transport modeling system

COAWST: A Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport Modeling System

Understanding the processes responsible for coastal change is important for managing both our natural and economic coastal resources. Storms are one of the primary driving forces causing coastal change from a coupling of wave- and wind-driven flows. To better understand storm impacts and their effects on our coastlines, there is an international need to better predict storm paths and intensities...
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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COAWST: A Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport Modeling System

Understanding the processes responsible for coastal change is important for managing both our natural and economic coastal resources. Storms are one of the primary driving forces causing coastal change from a coupling of wave- and wind-driven flows. To better understand storm impacts and their effects on our coastlines, there is an international need to better predict storm paths and intensities...
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Dunes and beach at Fire Island, New York

Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated mainland from storm waves...
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated mainland from storm waves...
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USGS scientists install a camera in the back-barrier marsh to monitor marsh-edge erosion along the northern shoreline

Back-barrier and Estuarine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation influence estuarine circulation and water levels, sediment transport, and wetland change.
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Back-barrier and Estuarine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation influence estuarine circulation and water levels, sediment transport, and wetland change.
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sunset over wetland

Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems

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...
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems

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...
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Rotary side scan images at a grain-size boundary

Coastal Model Applications and Field Measurements

Numerical models are used by scientists, engineers, coastal managers, and the public to understand and predict processes in the coastal ocean. This project supports the development and application of open-source coastal models and has several objectives: 1) improve the code of numerical sediment-transport models by implementing new or improved algorithms; 2) obtain measurements of coastal ocean...
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Coastal Model Applications and Field Measurements

Numerical models are used by scientists, engineers, coastal managers, and the public to understand and predict processes in the coastal ocean. This project supports the development and application of open-source coastal models and has several objectives: 1) improve the code of numerical sediment-transport models by implementing new or improved algorithms; 2) obtain measurements of coastal ocean...
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Climatological Wave Height, Wave Period and Wave Power along Coastal Areas of the East Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico

This U.S. Geological Survey data release provides data on spatial variations in climatological wave parameters (significant wave height, peak wave period, and wave power) for coastal areas along the United States East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Significant wave height is the average wave height, from crest to trough, of the highest one-third of the waves in a specific time period. Peak wave period
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Tidal Datums, Tidal Range, and Nuisance Flooding Levels for Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay

This U.S. Geological Survey data release provides data on spatial variations in tidal datums, tidal range, and nuisance flooding in Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. Tidal datums are standard elevations that are defined based on average tidal water levels. Datums are used as references to measure local water levels and to delineate regions in coastal environments. Nuisance flooding refers to the sp
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Idealized COAWST numerical model for testing marsh wave thrust and lateral retreat dynamics routines

There are two idealized domains developed in this work to test the marsh dynamics in the COAWST modeling framework. 1. First idealized domain is to test and verify the lateral thrust calculations. 2. Second idealized domain is to test the implementation of lateral retreat formulations.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

COAWST model of Barnegat Bay creeks to demonstrate marsh dynamics

The COAWST (Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport) modeling framework was extended to add two key processes that affect marshes, erosion due to lateral wave thrust (LWT) and vertical accretion due to biomass productivity. The testing of the combined effects of integrating these two processes was done by modeling marsh complexes within Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge and the Barnegat B
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Wave thrust values at point locations along the shorelines of Massachusetts and Rhode Island

This product provides spatial variations in wave thrust along shorelines in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Natural features of relevance along the State coast are salt marshes. In recent times, marshes have been eroding primarily through lateral erosion. Wave thrust represents a metric of wave attack acting on marsh edges. The wave thrust is calculated as the vertical integral of the dynamic pres
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Wave thrust values at point locations along the shorelines of Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and Virginia

This product provides spatial variations in wave thrust along shorelines in the Chesapeake Bay. Natural features of relevance along the Bay coast are salt marshes. In recent times, marshes have been eroding primarily through lateral erosion. Wave thrust represents a metric of wave attack acting on marsh edges. The wave thrust is calculated as the vertical integral of the dynamic pressure of waves.
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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Filter Total Items: 24

Toward a total water level forecast of the Great Lakes

The combined effect of storm surge and large waves is the main driving mechanism that erodes beaches, inundates low-lying areas, leading to millions of dollars in property damage, loss of natural resources, and lives. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) aims to expand the real-time total water level (TWL) forecast provided in the Operational Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecasts (TWL&CC) to
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Erdinc Sogut, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Andrew Ashton, Walter Barnhardt, Kara S. Doran, Margaret Louise Palmsten
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Contributions to uncertainty in runup forecasts

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides operational forecasts of total water levels (TWL) and coastal change. Uncertainties around forecast TWL are based on the temporal and spatial range of observed beach slopes near the forecast site. This paper investigates other sources of uncertainty that are not accounted for, focusing on four beaches where the USGS has deployed remote cameras, and on out
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Christopher R. Sherwood, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Peter A. Traykovski, Jin-Si R. Over, David S. Foster, Jennifer L. Miselis, Tim Nelson, Erdinc Sogut
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Processes controlling coastal erosion along Cape Cod Bay, MA

Cape Cod Bay, MA, is a semi-enclosed embayment in the northeastern United States, open on the north to the Gulf of Maine. The coastline experiences impacts typically from strong Nor’easter storms that occur in the late fall or winter months, with some sections of this coastline being affected more severely than others. We investigate the processes that cause spatial variability in storm impacts by
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John C. Warner, Laura L. Brothers, Emily A. Himmelstoss, Christopher R. Sherwood, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, David S. Foster, Amy S. Farris
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Temporal variability of runup and total water level on Cape Cod sandy beaches

In the present study, we evaluate the temporal variability in runup and total water level for sandy beaches along Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA), and their impact on dune and beach erosion. We use a 43-year hindcast of waves and water levels and calculate runup and total water level based on the Stockdon formulation using previously extracted beach slopes. The dominant components of the runup are i
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Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Christopher R. Sherwood, B.O. Blanton, Jin-Si R. Over, Peter A. Traykovski, Erdinc Sogut
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sound-side inundation and seaward erosion of a barrier island during hurricane landfall

Barrier islands are especially vulnerable to hurricanes and other large storms, owing to their mobile composition, low elevations, and detachment from the mainland. Conceptual models of barrier-island evolution emphasize ocean-side processes that drive landward migration through overwash, inlet migration, and aeolian transport. In contrast, we found that the impact of Hurricane Dorian (2019) on No
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Christopher R. Sherwood, Andrew C. Ritchie, Jin-Si R. Over, Christine J. Kranenburg, Jonathan Warrick, Jenna A. Brown, Wayne Wright, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Sara Zeigler, Phillipe Alan Wernette, Daniel D. Buscombe, Christie Hegermiller
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Shoaling wave shape estimates from field observations and derived bedload sediment rates

The shoaling transformation from generally linear deep-water waves to asymmetric shallow-water waves modifies wave shapes and causes near-bed orbital velocities to become asymmetrical, contributing to net sediment transport. In this work, we used two methods to estimate the asymmetric wave shape from data at three sites. The first method converted wave measurements made at the surface to idealized
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Tarandeep S. Kalra, Steven E. Suttles, Christopher R. Sherwood, John C. Warner, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Gibson Robert Scott Leavitt
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Modeling marsh dynamics using a 3-D coupled wave-flow-sediment model

Salt marshes are dynamic biogeomorphic systems that respond to external physical factors, including tides, sediment transport, and waves, as well as internal processes such as autochthonous soil formation. Predicting the fate of marshes requires a modeling framework that accounts for these processes in a coupled fashion. In this study, we implement two new marsh dynamic processes in the 3-D COAWST
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Tarandeep S. Kalra, Neil Kamal Ganju, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Joel A. Carr, Zafer Defne, Julia Moriarty
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Quantifying slopes as a driver of forest to marsh conversion using geospatial techniques: Application to Chesapeake Bay coastal-plain, USA

Coastal salt marshes, which provide valuable ecosystem services such as flood mitigation and carbon sequestration, are threatened by rising sea level. In response, these ecosystems migrate landward, converting available upland into salt marsh. In the coastal-plain surrounding Chesapeake Bay, United States, conversion of coastal forest to salt marsh is well-documented and may offset salt marsh loss
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Grace Damore Molino, Zafer Defne, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Neil Kamal Ganju, Joel A. Carr
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Research and Development Program, Land Change Science Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

A non-linear relationship between marsh size and sediment trapping capacity compromises salt marshes’ resilience to sea-level rise

Global assessments predict the impact of sea-level rise on salt marshes with present-day levels of sediment supply from rivers and the coastal ocean. However, these assessments do not consider that variations in marsh extent and the related reconfiguration of intertidal area affect local sediment dynamics, ultimately controlling the fate of the marshes themselves. We conducted a meta-analysis of s
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Carmine Donatelli, Xiaohe Zhang, Neil Kamal Ganju, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Sergio Fagherazzi, Nicoletta Leonardi
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Spatiotemporal variability of light attenuation and net ecosystem metabolism in a back-barrier estuary

Quantifying system-wide biogeochemical dynamics and ecosystem metabolism in estuaries is often attempted using a long-term continuous record at a single site or short-term records at multiple sites due to sampling limitations that preclude long-term monitoring. However, differences in the dominant primary producer at a given location (e.g., phytoplankton versus benthic producers) control diel vari
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Neil Kamal Ganju, Jeremy Testa, Steven E. Suttles, Alfredo Aretxabaleta
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

A geospatially resolved wetland vulnerability index: Synthesis of physical drivers

Assessing wetland vulnerability to chronic and episodic physical drivers is fundamental for establishing restoration priorities. We synthesized multiple data sets from E.B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey, to establish a wetland vulnerability metric that integrates a range of physical processes, regulatory information and physical/biophysical features. The geospatial data are based on
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Zafer Defne, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Neil Kamal Ganju, Tarandeep S. Kalra, Daniel Jones, Kathryn Smith
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Using the Lomb-Scargle method for wave statistics from gappy time series

Sandwich Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, MA, has experienced substantial erosion and has been the subject of efforts by the town and private landowners to limit the sand loss. Erosion has been particularly dramatic in the past five years with the loss of dwellings. Sandwich's nourishment efforts presented a unique opportunity for scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine
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Marinna A. Martini, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Christopher R. Sherwood
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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) Modeling System

The Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) Modeling System is an agglomeration of open-source modeling components that has been tailored to investigate coupled processes of the atmosphere, ocean, and waves in the coastal ocean.

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Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

COAWST Modeling System v3.4

Coupled ocean atmosphere wave sediment transport modeling system
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Hurricane Sandy Impacts Did Not Contribute to Subsequent Storm Flooding

Flooding in coastal areas bordering Great South Bay, N.Y. and Barnegat Bay, N.J. caused by winter storms that occurred following Hurricane Sandy was...

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