Impacts of Seagrass Dynamics on the Coupled Long‐Term Evolution of Barrier‐Marsh‐Bay Systems

Seagrass provides a wide range of economically and ecologically valuable ecosystem services, with shoreline erosion control often listed as a key service, but can also alter the sediment dynamics and waves within back‐barrier bays. Here we incorporate seagrass dynamics into an existing barrier‐marsh exploratory model, GEOMBEST++, to examine the coupled interactions of the back‐barrier bay with both adjacent (marsh) and nonadjacent (barrier island) subsystems. While seagrass reduces marsh edge erosion rates and increases progradation rates in many of our 288 model simulations, seagrass surprisingly increases marsh edge erosion rates when sediment export from the back‐barrier basin is negligible because the ability of seagrass to reduce the volume of marsh sediment eroded matters little for back‐barrier basins in which all sediment is conserved. Our model simulations also suggest that adding seagrass to the bay subsystem leads to increased deposition in the bay, reduced sediment available to the marsh, and enhanced marsh edge erosion until the bay reaches a new, shallower equilibrium depth. In contrast, removing seagrass liberates previously sequestered sediment that is then delivered to the marsh, leading to enhanced marsh progradation. Lastly, we find that seagrass reduces barrier island migration rates in the absence of back‐barrier marsh by filling accommodation space in the bay. These model observations suggest that seagrass meadows operate as dynamic sources and sinks of sediment that can influence the evolution of coupled marsh and barrier island landforms in unanticipated ways

The complex influences of back-barrier deposition, substrate slope and underlying stratigraphy in barrier island response to sea-level rise: Insights from the Virginia Barrier Islands, Mid-Atlantic Bight, U.S.A.

To understand the relative importance of back barrier environment, substrate slope and underlying stratigraphy in determining barrier island response to RSLR (relative sea-level rise), we use a morphological-behavior model (GEOMBEST) to conduct a series of sensitivity experiments, based on late-Holocene hindcast simulations of an island in the U.S. mid-Atlantic Bight (Metompkin Island, VA) having both salt marsh and lagoonal back-barrier environments, and we draw comparisons between these results and future simulations (2000-2100. AD) of island response to RSLR. Sensitivity analyses indicate that, as a whole, the island is highly sensitive to factors that reduce overall sand availability (i.e., high sand-loss rates and substrates containing little sand). Results also indicate that for all predicted future RSLR scenarios tested, islands having high substrate sand proportions (if allowed to migrate freely) will likely remain subaerial for centuries because of sufficient substrate sand supply and elevation to assist in keeping islands above sea level. Simulation results also lead to basic insights regarding the interactions among substrate slope, back-barrier deposition and island migration rates. In contrast to previous studies, which suggest that changes in substrate slope directly affect the island migration trajectory, we find that-in the presence of back-barrier deposition-the connection between substrate slope and island behavior is modulated (i.e., variability in migration rates is dampened) by changes in back-barrier width. These interactions-which tend to produce changes in shoreface sand content-lead to a negative feedback when the back-barrier deposit contains less sand than the underlying layer, resulting in a stable back-barrier width. Alternatively, a positive feedback arises when the back-barrier deposit contains more sand than the underlying layer, resulting in either back-barrier disappearance or perpetual widening

Observed changes in hurricane-driven waves explain the dynamics of modern cuspate shorelines

A comparison between historical and recent shoreline-change rates on the U.S. east coast (based on observed shoreline positions from the last century and a half) shows that emergent, large-scale, cuspate coastline features are changing shape, becoming more asymmetrical. This change in coastline shape arises from spatial shifts in the location of erosion and accretion zones. Using a numerical model of coastline change forced by wave-driven alongshore sediment flux, we show that a previously identified shift in hurricane-generated wave climate explains the patterns of coastline change we observe. Our results reveal a previously unrecognized type of large-scale, chronic landscape response to changing forcing. Though demonstrated here for a cuspate coastline, similar large-scale morphological adjustments are likely to occur along coastlines of varying morphology in the future - as global warming continues, along with the associated intensification of storms. Our approach allows for constraining and predicting future shifts in coastline shape

Dune Dynamics Drive Discontinuous Barrier Retreat

Barrier islands and spits tend to migrate landward in response to sea-level rise through the storm-driven process of overwash, but overwash flux depends on the height of the frontal dunes. Here, we explore this fundamental linkage between dune dynamics and barrier migration using the new model Barrier3D. Our experiments demonstrate that discontinuous barrier retreat is a prevalent behavior that can arise directly from the bistability of foredune height, occurring most likely when the storm return period and characteristic time scale of dune growth are of similar magnitudes. Under conditions of greater storm intensity, discontinuous retreat becomes the dominant behavior of barriers that were previously stable. Alternatively, higher rates of sea-level rise decrease the overall likelihood of discontinuous retreat in favor of continuous transgression. We find that internal dune dynamics, while previously neglected in exploratory barrier modeling, are an essential component of barrier evolution on time scales relevant to coastal management

Downscaling Changing Coastlines in a Changing Climate: The Hybrid Approach

Shifts in the frequency of typical meteorological patterns in an ocean basin, over interannual to decadal time scales, cause shifts in the patterns of wave generation. Therefore, ocean basin-scale climate shifts produce shifts in the wave climates affecting the coastlines of the basin. We present a hybrid methodology for downscaling observed (or predicted) climate shifts into local nearshore wave climates and then into the associated coastline responses. A series of statistical analyses translate observed (or predicted) distributions of meteorological states into the deep water wave climate affecting a coastal region and dynamical modeling combined with statistical analyses transform the deep water wave climate into the nearshore wave climate affecting a particular coastline. Finally, dynamical modeling of coastline evolution hindcasts (or predicts) how coastline shapes respond to climate shifts. As a case study, we downscale from meteorological hindcast in the North Atlantic basin since 1870 to the responses of the shape of the coast of the Carolinas, USA. We test the hindcasts using shoreline change rates calculated from historical shorelines, because shifts in coastline shape equate to changes in the alongshore pattern of shoreline change rates from one historical period to another. Although limited by the availability of historical shorelines (and complicated by historical inlet openings), the observations are consistent with the predicted signal of ocean basin-scale climate change. The hybrid downscaling methodology, applied to the output of global climate models, can be used to help forecast future patterns of shoreline change related to future climate change scenarios

Impacts of Seagrass Dynamics on the Coupled Long-Term Evolution of Barrier-Marsh-Bay Systems

Seagrass provides a wide range of economically and ecologically valuable ecosystem services, with shoreline erosion control often listed as a key service, but can also alter the sediment dynamics and waves within back-barrier bays. Here we incorporate seagrass dynamics into an existing barrier-marsh exploratory model, GEOMBEST++, to examine the coupled interactions of the back-barrier bay with both adjacent (marsh) and nonadjacent (barrier island) subsystems. While seagrass reduces marsh edge erosion rates and increases progradation rates in many of our 288 model simulations, seagrass surprisingly increases marsh edge erosion rates when sediment export from the back-barrier basin is negligible because the ability of seagrass to reduce the volume of marsh sediment eroded matters little for back-barrier basins in which all sediment is conserved. Our model simulations also suggest that adding seagrass to the bay subsystem leads to increased deposition in the bay, reduced sediment available to the marsh, and enhanced marsh edge erosion until the bay reaches a new, shallower equilibrium depth. In contrast, removing seagrass liberates previously sequestered sediment that is then delivered to the marsh, leading to enhanced marsh progradation. Lastly, we find that seagrass reduces barrier island migration rates in the absence of back-barrier marsh by filling accommodation space in the bay. These model observations suggest that seagrass meadows operate as dynamic sources and sinks of sediment that can influence the evolution of coupled marsh and barrier island landforms in unanticipated ways

Early age hydration and application of blended magnesium potassium phosphate cements for reduced corrosion of reactive metals

Magnesium potassium phosphate cements (MKPC) were investigated to determine their efficacy towards retardation of reactive uranium metal corrosion. Optimised low-water content, fly ash (FA) and blast furnace slag (BFS) blended MKPC formulations were developed and their fluidity, hydration behaviour, strength and phase assemblage investigated. In-situ time resolved synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction was used to detail the early age (~60 h) phase assemblage development and hydration kinetics, where the inclusion of BFS was observed to delay the formation of struvite-K by ~14 h compared to FA addition (~2 h). All samples set within this period, suggesting the possible formation of a poorly crystalline binding phase prior to struvite-K crystallisation. Long-term corrosion trials using metallic uranium indicated that MKPC systems are capable of limiting uranium corrosion rates (reduced by half), when compared to a UK nuclear industry grout, which highlights their potential application radioactive waste immobilisation

The Effect of Nutrient Intake on Bone Mineral Status in Young Adults: The Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project

Aunque hemos hablado de ello, no estará de más recordar que uno de los mejores blogs de historia es el de la Historical Society. Este recién empezado año lo han inaugurado con un repaso al número que su revista, Historically Speaking, publicó a principios de 2009. Ha pasado cierto tiempo, es evidente, pero conviene detenerse en su contenido, porque no es habitual: la forma en la que escribimos  la historia. En efecto, la citada publicación dedicó una mesa redonda a debatir sobre "Teaching the..

Effect of elevated substrate temperature deposition on the mechanical losses in tantala thin film coatings

Brownian thermal noise in dielectric multilayer coatings limits the sensitivity of current and future interferometric gravitational wave detectors. In this work we explore the possibility of improving the mechanical losses of tantala, often used as the high refractive index material, by depositing it on a substrate held at elevated temperature. Promising results have been previously obtained with this technique when applied to amorphous silicon. We show that depositing tantala on a hot substrate reduced the mechanical losses of the as-deposited coating, but subsequent thermal treatments had a larger impact, as they reduced the losses to levels previously reported in the literature. We also show that the reduction in mechanical loss correlates with increased medium range order in the atomic structure of the coatings using x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Finally, a discussion is included on our results, which shows that the elevated temperature deposition of pure tantala coatings does not appear to reduce mechanical loss in a similar way to that reported in the literature for amorphous silicon; and we suggest possible future research directions