{"id":11493,"date":"2019-09-18T10:15:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T14:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=11493"},"modified":"2024-08-20T13:34:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T17:34:03","slug":"coastal-currents-fall-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/coastal-currents-fall-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal Currents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
North Carolina Sea Grant currently supports a three-year Core Project that is studying how salt marshes migrate over time. Antonio Rodriguez, a coastal geologist at the UNC-CH Institute of Marine Sciences, is collecting data at 40 coastal sites in North Carolina His team will share their results with scientists, coastal managers and restoration practitioners, as well as develop educational materials for grades 6 to 12. <\/i>Carson Miller (above), a graduate student in marine sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, works with the team and has provided this update.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across the entire North Carolina coast, locals and transplants are itching to move closer and closer to the water. Drawn to the iconic coastal views, maritime activities and lower real estate prices, more people are developing property along the saltmarsh-upland forest boundary. This boundary resides where the marsh meets the tree line. Because it is both economically and environmentally important, we must understand how this boundary migrates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The saltmarsh that fronts the upland forest boundary is crucial for many reasons: water purification, erosion control and coastal protection, fish habitats, and recreation, as well as carbon sequestration, the process that removes carbon dioxide from the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, however, saltmarsh area is declining. Marshes face both natural and human stressors on seaward and landward edges, also known as \u201ccoastal squeeze.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Normally, a saltmarsh can move freely and offset stressors that cause erosion, such as sea level rise, storms, and boat wakes on the estuarine edge. However, when humans develop the upland boundary, marshes no longer have the ability move landward (\u201ctransgression\u201d), leading to coastal squeeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many studies show that sea level rise drives saltmarsh transgression. Water levels fluctuate in saltmarshes daily through tides, but if you raise the total water level through sea level rise, the saltmarsh starts encroaching on the upland forest. As the saltmarsh moves landward, the upland forest begins to die, leaving a ghost forest behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n