| Title: | Connecticut's Changing Salt Marshes: Remote Sensing of Sea Level Rise & Salt Marsh Migration |
| Authors: | Mark Hoover, University of Connecticut; Daniel Civco, University of Connecticut; Adam Whelchel, The Nature Conservancy |
| Date/Time: | Tuesday, September 23 ~ 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. |
| Abstract: | Given their location in the intertidal zone, coastal salt marshes will be one of the ecosystems first affected by sea level rise. The height of sea level, and therefore, the degree and duration of inundation by salt water, is of critical importance to the marsh ecosystem. If sea level rise begins to outpace salt marshes' ability to accrete, then many marshes may be forced to migrate inland, if possible, or become submerged. This project modeled the response of eight Connecticut salt marshes to predicted rates of sea level rise by the year 2100. The project used eCognition, an object-oriented image classification software, to map the plant species currently inhabiting the marshes. This research also used the Geostatistical Analyst in ArcMap to process LiDAR point clouds into two foot Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). These DEMs were used to simulate different sea level rise scenarios and were also adjusted to simulate accretion rates of the salt marshes. Finally, two policy scenarios were included to simulate how they would affect salt marsh survival. The final products of this research are maps displaying the predicted migration and composition of each marsh for the year 2100, under several sea level rise scenarios. |
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