Rapid Response Monitoring of a Coastal Wetland during Tropical Storm Cristobal
Publication: Geo-Extreme 2021
ABSTRACT
Hurricanes and tropical storms represent short duration, high-magnitude events that can significantly deteriorate coastal wetlands. Aside from marsh-edge erosion, changes in marsh ecology, and geomorphology may occur that in turn affect geotechnical properties of the substrata. In June 2020, a multidisciplinary team rapidly assembled and deployed instrumentation to monitor a coastal wetland in southern Louisiana during Tropical Storm Cristobal. The instrumentation deployed to measure the storm effects includes wave gauges, piezometers, sediment traps, erosion pins, and time-lapse cameras. A thorough poststorm reconnaissance effort was conducted less than a week after storm impact. Slump failures across the marsh edge were observed, with the vegetated mat still intact on the now-submerged sections. Cross sections of the slumping failures were measured alongside marsh-edge erosion values. Erosion pin data show that erosion rates are highest in the center of the transect. A suite of RTK-GPS elevation measurements were taken to identify geomorphological changes. Water level measurements are compared to pore-pressure values along a transect from marsh-edge inland. The marsh becomes inundated rapidly except for a high-elevation strip along the marsh edge. A systematic review of lessons learned from deploying instrumentations and the mechanisms of failure imparted on the marsh by the storm are presented.
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Geo-Extreme 2021
Pages: 49 - 55
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: Nov 4, 2021
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