SGER: Storm Surge Deposition in Coastal Wetlands

该项目将量化2008年夏末古斯塔夫和艾克飓风淹没的路易斯安那州湿地的沉积物数量。这些最近沉积的无机沉积物在未来两到四个月的湿地沉积物中很容易识别。其目的是在这些沿海湿地内的100至150个地点进行采样，以获得沉积物沉积的显著估计。 拟议活动的目标是了解沉积率在沿海环境中的变化方式和原因，并将这些结果与2005年对卡特里娜飓风和丽塔飓风期间沉积物积累的分析进行比较。由于这些风暴，有机会研究植物结构如何影响沉积物沉积。大的风暴潮可能会超过植被捕获沉积物的能力，这次采样工作将直接解决这个问题。飓风风暴潮移动到沿海地区的沉积物数量巨大，沉积物被捕获或沉积的方式对沿海社区非常重要。这项研究将记录两次主要飓风的沉积物是如何沉积的，以及沉积在哪里，以及这对塑造海岸线的影响。该项目将有利于规划未来飓风沿着墨西哥湾沿岸登陆的过程。

This project will quantify the amount of sediments introduced to the Louisiana wetlands inundated by hurricanes Gustav and Ike during the late summer of 2008. These recently-deposited inorganic sediments will be easy to recognize in the wetland sediments for the next two to four months. The objective is to sample 100 to 150 locations within these coastal wetlands to obtain a statistically-significant estimate of sediment deposition. The goal of the proposed activity is to understand how and why the deposition rate varies across the coastal environment, and to compare these results to the 2005 analysis of sediments accumulating during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. An opportunity exists, as a result of these storms, to examine how vegetative structure affects sediment deposition. Large storm surges may overwhelm the ability of the vegetation to trap sediments, and this sampling effort will directly address this issue.The amount of sediment moved into coastal areas by hurricane storm surges is huge, and the means by which it gets trapped or deposited is of great importance to coastal communities. This research will document how and where the sediments from two major hurricanes has been deposited, and the effects that this has had on shaping the coastline. This project will benefit the process of planning for future hurricane landfalls along the Gulf Coast.