RAPID: Quantifying Wetland Root Structure, Strength, and Uprooting due to Hurricane Ida

沿海湿地是宝贵的生态系统。它们改善水质，提供野生动物栖息地和生物多样性，储存有机碳，并通过抑制海浪和降低风暴潮高度来保护沿海社区免受风暴的影响。然而，严重的风暴是沿海湿地丧失的最常见的自然驱动力之一。在路易斯安那州沿海地区，卡特里娜飓风和丽塔飓风（2005年）以及古斯塔夫飓风和艾克飓风（2008年）的综合影响几乎将纽约市的面积转化为开放水域。因此，预测飓风造成的湿地损失是一个重要目标，因为飓风对沿海人口造成了重大影响。该RAPID奖将允许及时进行现场测试和核心采样，以量化路易斯安那州沿海巴拉塔里亚盆地的湿地根系强度和结构，该盆地经历了飓风艾达造成的极端土地损失。这些信息将有助于科学界和公众了解湿地是如何被侵蚀的，是什么控制了侵蚀阻力，为什么有些飓风比其他飓风更具破坏性，以及长期恢复的潜力。 飓风艾达在路易斯安那州东南部海岸登陆，带来风暴潮和高于正常水位约4.5米的海浪，对自然和建筑环境造成巨大破坏，特别是破坏了湿地根系，并移走了大部分沼泽平台。目前的知识的湿地平台承受飓风引起的连根拔起的能力是有限的，湿地根结构，生物量和强度的作用需要进一步研究。这项快速研究的目的是收集湿地易腐烂的数据，包括（i）使用X射线计算机断层扫描（XCT）扫描量化微观尺度的活生物量、坏死物、根系结构、孔隙结构和沉积物密度;（ii）使用锥形电磁计测试（CPT）测量根系的宏观尺度场强;（iii）使用锥形电磁计测试（CPT）测量根系的宏观尺度场强。以及（iii）评估湿地植被和根系从干扰中恢复的复原力。该奖项将开发有关湿地平台如何承受风暴潮和波浪的新知识，以及这些系统如何在空间和时间上演变（特别是在面对海平面上升、恢复活动和极端事件后的恢复时），以及这些变化如何改变他们保护海岸线免受进一步破坏的能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

Coastal wetlands are valuable ecosystems. They improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat and biodiversity, store organic carbon, and protect coastal communities from storms by dampening waves and reducing storm surge heights. Yet, severe storms are one of the most common natural drivers of coastal wetland loss. For coastal Louisiana, the combined impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005) and then Hurricanes Gustav and Ike (2008) converted nearly the area of New York City into open water. As a result, predicting wetland loss due to hurricanes is an important goal because of the significant consequences with respect to coastal populations. This RAPID award will allow timely field testing and core sampling to quantify wetland root strength and structure in the Barataria basin of coastal Louisiana, which experienced extreme land loss from Hurricane Ida. This information will help inform the scientific community and public on how the wetlands are eroded, what controls erosional resistance, why some hurricanes are more damaging than others, and what potential is for long-term recovery. Hurricane Ida made landfall on the southeastern Louisiana coast, bringing storm surge and waves of approximately 4.5 m above the normal water level that caused immense damage to the natural and built environment, specifically undermining the wetland root systems and removing much of the marsh platform. Current knowledge of the ability of the wetland platform to withstand hurricane-induced uprooting is limited, and the roles of wetland root structure, biomass volume, and strength need further research. The objective of this RAPID research is to collect perishable data of wetland uprooting, including (i) quantifying the micro-scale live biomass, necromass, root structure, pore structure, and sediment density using X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) scans; (ii) measuring the macro-scale field strength of root systems using cone penetrometer tests (CPTs); and (iii) assessing the resilience of wetland vegetation and root systems to recover from a disturbance. This award will develop new knowledge concerning how the wetland platform withstands storm surge and waves, how these systems could evolve over space and time (particularly in the face of sea level rise, restoration activities, and recovery after an extreme event), and how these changes could alter their ability to protect the coastline from further damage.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.