Daniel Nowacki
Biography
Please note that I am now located at the Pacific Coastal & Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, CA.
I'm a coastal oceanographer currently serving as a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal & Marine Science Center in Woods Hole, MA. I received my Ph.D. in Oceanography (Marine Geology & Geophysics) from the University of Washington in Seattle. My M.S.E. is in Civil & Environmental Engineering, also from the UW. Previously, I was a hydrologist at the USGS’s National Research Program in Reston, VA.
Generally, I am interested in the sediment transport and morphology of coastal and riverine systems.
A key aspect of my current research is the interaction between waves, vegetation, and sediment transport in a variety of coastal environments. This work is done primarily as part of the Estuarine Physical Response to Storms and Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems projects.
Science and Products
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....
Estuarine 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.
Seasonal, tidal, and geomorphic controls on sediment export to Amazon River tidal floodplains
Mainstem–floodplain material exchange in the tidal freshwater reach of ma jor rivers may lead to significant sequestration of riverine sediment, but this zone remains understudied compared to adjacent fluvial and marine environ ments. This knowledge gap prompts investigation of floodplain-incising tidalchannels found along the banks of tidal...
Nowacki, Daniel J. ; Ogston, Andrea S.; Nittrouer, Charles A.; Fricke, Aaron; Asp, Nils; Souza Filho, Pedro Walfir M. Storm impacts on hydrodynamics and suspended-sediment fluxes in a microtidal back-barrier estuary
Recent major storms have piqued interest in understanding the responses of estuarine hydrodynamics and sediment transport to these events. To that end, flow velocity, wave characteristics, and suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) were measured for 11 months at eight locations in Chincoteague Bay, MD/VA, USA, a shallow back-barrier estuary. Daily...
Nowacki, Daniel J. ; Ganju, Neil K.
Summary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland and Virginia, 2014–15
U.S. Geological Survey scientists and technical support staff measured oceanographic, waterquality, seabed-elevation-change, and meteorological parameters in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland and Virginia, during the period of August 13, 2014, to July 14, 2015, as part of the Estuarine Physical Response to Storms project (GS2–2D) supported by the...
Suttles, Steven E. ; Ganju, Neil K.; Brosnahan, Sandra M.; Montgomery, Ellyn T. ; Dickhudt, Patrick J. ; Beudin, Alexis; Nowacki, Daniel J. ; Martini, Marinna A. 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.