Sea Level Rise

USGS researchers will will survey elevation and vegetation in wetlands and vegetated dunes on Horn, Petite Bois, and Ship Islands; Correct the best available lidar-based digital elevation model; estimate inundation for the Gulf Islands National Seashore under various water levels and relative sea-level rise scenarios; and quantify and predict potential marsh migration for the Gulf Islands National...

The USGS will establish Rod Surface Elevation Tables at five National Wildlife Refuges on the Texas coast. This work will support climate adaptation and resilience planning by identifying areas susceptible to loss and degradation due to sea-level rise and extreme climatic events along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Researchers at WARC will use data and models to produce probabilistic maps of current and future wetland inundation, coastal wetland extent, and coastal and wetland trangression.

To assess use of dredge material areas, avian ecologists from USGS WARC are conducting bird surveys across the annual life cycle.

WARC Researchers are comparing tree and root growth, soil CO2 flux, and surface elevation change between fertilized and unfertilized mangrove forests to assess the potential impact of increased nutrient loading and to help rate mangrove stand vulnerability.

WARC researchers are working to quantify the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover change on greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.

WARC's wetland carbon cycle science team is working to improve model parameterizations and formulations and reduce forecast uncertainty in ecosystem modeling.

To ensure successful restoration of coastal wetlands, WARC researchers will measure carbon cycling processes that indicate ecosystem health and sustainability.

WARC researchers sampled anuran populations at sites within Big Thicket National Preserve to explore saltwater intrusion on these populations.

Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are coastal transition zones where freshwater rivers meet tidal seawater. As sea levels rise, tidal forces move saltier water farther upstream, extending into freshwater wetland areas. Human changes to the surrounding landscape may amplify the effects of this tidal extension, impacting the resiliency and function of the upper estuarine wetlands. One visible...

The State of Louisiana's Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) program has partnered with USGS to developed two habitat classifications schemes for monitoring barrier island habitats and habitats in beach-dune systems along the mainland. These schemes builds upon previous BICM habitat mapping efforts.

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s Coastal Master Plan is a blueprint for responding to environmental changes. As part of the agency’s continued engagement, USGS supports model developments and improvements for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan.