Melissa M Baustian

A subset of 2017 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan model output to estimate climate change mitigation potential of Louisiana’s coastal area

A subset of the Louisiana's 2017 Coastal Master Plan model output was used to estimate the potential climate mitigation role of Louisiana’s coastal area. Model output of surface water salinity, land/water classification, and area of eight habitats for elapsed years of 6, 11, 16, 26, and 36 were post-processed to estimate habitat areas at years of 2020, 2025, 2030, 2040, and 2050, that align with the Governor of Louisiana’s greenhouse gas reduction targets. In addition, the Louisiana coastal boundary and a static mask of upland and developed area were used to define the coastal area. The modeled habitat areas with literature review of net ecosystem carbon balance fluxes per habitat were used in an analytical framework...

Tags: Aquatic Biology, Botany, Climatology, Ecology, Gulf of Mexico, All tags... Land Use Change, Louisiana, Louisiana Coastal, Soil Sciences, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), biota, carbon sequestration, coastal ecosystems, coastal processes, coastal submergence, environment, estuary, habitats, inlandWaters, wetlands, Fewer tags

Plant, soil, and microbial characteristics of marsh collapse in Mississippi River Deltaic wetlands

Site, field, and soil data collected from 14 sites along a chronosequence of wetland submergence on 15 – 17 October 2019 in a Louisiana salt marsh in Barataria Basin, part of the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain, along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast.

Categories: Data; Tags: Botany, Flora, Louisiana Coastal, Microbial Communities, Soil Sciences, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Water Quality, biogeochemical cycling, coastal submergence, marsh, soil, wetland ecosystems, Fewer tags

The Bonnet Carré spillway (BCS) is a flood-control structure along the Lower Mississippi River designed to prevent flooding in the city of New Orleans by diverting excess water into the nearby Lake Pontchartrain estuary. Alarmingly, the BCS was opened as many times over the past decade (2011–2020) as it had been over the six prior decades combined (1951–2010), with devastating effects on the estuary’s valuable fisheries. Because the BCS was rarely used in the past, there is little science-based guidance for state agencies to consult when trying to manage these events. In light of the unprecedented increase in BCS operation, this project will conduct research to understand (1) how opening the BCS affects Lake Pontchartrain...

Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2023, CASC, Data Visualization & Tools, Data Visualization & Tools, Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather, All tags... Extreme Weather, Fish, Fish, Other Water, Other Water, Projects by Region, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Science Tools for Managers, Science Tools for Managers, Sea-Level Rise and Coasts, Sea-Level Rise and Coasts, South Central, South Central CASC, Water, Coasts and Ice, Water, Coasts and Ice, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, Fewer tags