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A Century of Change in Grand Bay, Mississippi and Alabama

August 1, 2022
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Scenic photograph of Grand Bay estuary taken from a boat
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Scenic photograph of Grand Bay estuary taken from a boat just before sunset following a day in the field.

The Grand Bay system has experienced numerous changes over the last couple of centuries due to weather and anthropogenic events. Studying how and why the Grand Bay system has responded to past events allows for a clearer understanding of how the system may respond in the future to various scenarios. Future sea-level rise projections, restoration scenarios, and weather events will all impact the system differently, but with a robust understanding of the past, we can better predict how the Grand Bay system will respond in the future.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC) have been working with the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to track and investigate marsh shoreline erosion rates, marsh and estuarine sediment accumulation rates, and lateral sediment exchange between the marsh and estuary.

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screenshot of web tool titled, "A Century of Change in Grand Bay, Mississippi and Alabama" over photo of a sunrise over marsh
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