Enhancing Coastal Resilience through Thin Layer Placement

Critical to saltmarsh restoration is understanding the physical and ecological drivers of
degradation and fragmentation in saltmarsh ecosystems. Physical and ecological
processes of a broad range of spatiotemporal scales affect the success and effectiveness
of potential thin-layer placement EWN solutions. This project will develop and share
with stakeholders a multiscale monitoring and model framework, an approach which is
in high demand.

Objective

To develop a multiscale monitoring and modeling framework to:

1. Quantify the ecological-physical coupling of coastal wetland-oyster reef mosaics
   considering interactions among flow, vegetation, reefs and sediment through field
   studies and experiments;
2. Develop and validate a multiscale numerical model framework;
3. Provide theoretical support and assessment tools for the TLP practice.

Approach

1. Field observations on hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes.
2. Small-scale CFD models for flow-vegetation interactions and sediment transport.
3. Derive and implement improved parameterization of sub-grid processes in largescale eco-geomorphic models.
4. Investigate the effectiveness of potential thin-layer placement solutions.