Coastal salt marshes are an important interface between the land and ocean. The researchers will conduct studies to further examine the root causes of salt marsh dieback, a phenomenon that results in the loss of key economic and ecological services normally provided by the state’s critically important salt marsh ecosystem. The exact cause of marsh dieback is yet unknown, although drought appears to play a major role. The proposed study will provide a critical first step for understanding marsh dieback by determining how drought affects soil moisture and salinity in marsh systems and how hydrologic changes propagate to marsh plants.
The first phase of the study will include the instrumentation of two adjacent marsh transects to monitor groundwater levels, salinity, evapotranspiration, and ecological productivity for a minimum of 18 months. In the next phase, the investigators will create numerical groundwater flow and transport models to simulate drought conditions. These will be developed using SUTRA, which is a well-established groundwater flow and transport software developed by the U.S. Geological Survey.