Abstract
Mangroves have demonstrated the potential to provide engineering services to shorelines through wave attenuation, inland load reduction, and erosion mitigation. However, to confidently leverage these and other natural and nature-based features as coastal protection alternatives, their performance must be quantified over a broad range of environmental conditions that may interact with these systems in nature, ranging from daily stressors to extreme events. This paper examines the attenuation of 236 vessel-generated wakes through red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) using high-frequency pressure sensors positioned at the fringe (X = 0 m), middle (X = 6.8 m), and sheltered edge (rear, X = 12.6 m) of a narrow mangrove stand near Key West, FL. We observed average characteristic wave height reductions of 38% and 65% at the middle and rear positions, respectively. At the rear of the mangrove stand, wave height attenuation increased with increasing incident relative wave height and increasing incident wave steepness for the range of characteristic wave heights, periods, and water depths observed. A subset of wake events for which water particle velocity measurements were available suggests proportionality between wave height and water particle velocity, which may indicate that transmission coefficients calculated for wave heights may be representative of water particle velocity attenuation as well. This work provides quantitative data to expand the parameter space assessing the performance of natural and nature-based infrastructure in mitigating chronic stressors such as vessel-generated wakes, which may be major drivers of erosion in developed coastal and estuarine regions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Ms. Kelsi Furman, Ms. Louise Wallendorf and Mr. Dale Boyer for their assistance with instrumentation platform design and field deployments, and Dr. Carolyn Judge for her helpful feedback on a draft of this paper. Mr. Chris Bergh and Ms. Alison Higgins shared expertise and stakeholder input that were vital to the team's research questions and experimental design. Three anonymous reviewers provided detailed and thoughtful suggestions for improving a draft of this paper. The local expertise and transportation support by Kayak Kings of Key West provided invaluable site information as the authors investigated potential study locations. The authors are grateful to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) and The Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge (FKNWR) for their support of this project. Field research was conducted under FKNMS Permit FKNMS-2019-150 and FKNWR Special Use Permit FY20-01. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation CMMI Grant 1825080 and the U.S. Army Corps Engineers' Engineering Research and Development Center. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Science Foundation, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge, United States Naval Academy, or Northeastern University. The data presented here are available by contacting the authors.
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Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 3 • May 2022
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 26, 2021
Accepted: Nov 24, 2021
Published online: Feb 7, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 7, 2022
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