BUMP Graduate Students and Faculty Published in European Geosciences Union
BUMP Faculty and Grad students involved in a study of sediment fluxes in various areas of water. Coastal marsh survival relies upon to their ability to increase their elevation and offset sea level rise. It is therefore fundamental to realistically model the sediment fluxes between marshes, tidal channels and bays. Traditionally, numerical models have been calibrated and validated using in-situ measurements located in few locations within the domain of interest. These datasets typically provide temporal information but lack spatial variability. This paper explores the potential of coupling numerical models with high resolution remote sensing imagery. Products from three sensors from the recent NASA Delta-X airborne mission are used. UAVSAR provides vertical water level change on the marshland, and was used to adjust the bathymetry and calibrate the water fluxes over the marsh. AirSWOT yields water surface elevation within bays, lakes and channels and was used to calibrate the Chezy bottom friction coefficient. Finally, imagery from AVIRIS-NG provide maps of total suspended solids (TSS) concentration that were used to calibrate sediment parameters of settling velocity and critical shear stress for erosion. Three numerical models were developed at different locations and scales along coastal Louisiana using Delft3D. The coupling enabled a spatial evaluation of model performance not possible using simple point measurements. Some limitations were highlighted in the remote sensing imagery and the numerical models that need to be accounted for when comparing the results. Overall, the study shows that calibration of numerical models and their general quality will greatly benefit from remote sensing. Read more here.