Presenter: Dr. Gregg Snedden, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey
Cost: Free!
When: Friday, April 29, 11:30 a.m.
Where: Zoom/Dalton J. Woods Auditorium; Energy, Coast and Environment Bldg.
Sea-level and salinity are important parameters of coastal hydrology that together impart strong influences on ecosystem structure and function in coastal wetlands. Marsh vegetation productivity and community zonation, estuarine nekton abundance and distribution, and ecosystem services such as carbon burial are all strongly coupled to prevailing sea level and salinity regimes. Historical records of sea level (NOAA tide gauges) and salinity (CRMS wetland monitoring network) going back several years to several decades show considerable interannual salinity and sea-level variability. Across coastal Louisiana these variations are coupled to Earth’s internal climate modes such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). This coupling occurs through teleconnections with precipitation, sea-level pressure and surface winds that influence local runoff, Mississippi River discharge, coastal Ekman dynamics, and basin-scale ocean dynamics. Understanding these climate mode-coastal hydrology linkages is critical for effective ecosystem restoration planning and assessment under variable and trending climate scenarios.
For more information, please email CEGO at CEGO.Seminars@gmail.com.
Friday, April 29, 2022 at 11:30am to 12:15pm
Energy, Coast & Environment Building, Dalton J. Woods Auditorium
Free