Modern Fair-Weather and Storm Sediment Transport Around Ship Island, Mississippi: Implications for Coastal Habitats and Restoration Efforts

<p>The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain is experiencing accelerated sea level rise, decreased sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. These three factors drive unprecedented rates of morphology change and ecosystem reduction. All islands in the chain have experienced land loss on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s. In 1969, Hurricane Camille impacted as a Category 5, breaching Ship Island, and significantly reduced viable seagrass habitat. Hurricane Katrina impacted as a Category 3 in 2005, further widening Camille Cut. To better understand the sustainability of these important islands and the ecosystems they support, sediment transport dynamics must be quantified. In this study, four LiDAR datasets are used to investigate both subaerial and subaqueous volume changes during the most recent intense storm impact, Katrina, and the fair-weather period following. During the Katrina event, sediment comparable to 1.5 times the 2004 subaerial island volume was lost from the topo/bathy system. Only 1/5 of this volume was recovered between 2007 and 2010. The island returned to a net sediment loss between 2010 and 2012, although island area continued to increase. This highlights the importance of full topo/bathy datasets for morphodynamic analyses of barrier island systems. Seagrass patches around the island are primarily limited by exposure to wave energy, but are also limited by depth and rapid deposition events. Area and volume trends indicate seagrass habitat will not naturally increase, but a Camille Cut restoration may increase habitable area for seagrass if overwash processes are limited.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Marine Science

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Eisemann, Eve Rettew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Davin Wallace
• Maarten Buijsman
• Troy Pierce

• LiDAR
• barrier islands
• sediment transport
• coastal erosion
• hurricane impacts
• seagrass habitat
• Environmental Health and Protection
• Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment
• Environmental Monitoring
• Geology
• Geomorphology
• Natural Resources and Conservation
• Natural Resources Management and Policy
• Numerical Analysis and Computation
• Oceanography
• Other Applied Mathematics
• Sedimentology
• Stratigraphy
• Sustainability
• Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/260

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1289