U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Data Collection

Description: Suspended-sediment transport is a critical element governing the geomorphology of tidal marshes and estuaries. Marshes rely both on organic material and inorganic sediment deposition to maintain their elevation relative to sea-level. Additionally, horizontal marsh extent is altered by lateral erosion and accretion. In wetlands within and near Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, portions of the salt marsh are eroding at relatively rapid rates. To understand the connection between sediment fluxes and these processes, the USGS made oceanographic measurements to quantify suspended-sediment concentration and sediment transport in tidal channels and open embayments in and near Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Bottom landing platforms with instrumentation to measure currents, waves, water level, optical turbidity, water temperature, conductivity, and water quality parameters were deployed at four sites in Grand Bay. Each platform collected data for two sequential periods: August 4 – October 19, 2016 and October 23, 2016 – January 26, 2017. During the first period, the platform at Bayou Heron (ID 1077) was turned over and no usable data was recovered for that period at that site.

Duration: Aug. 2016 – Jan. 2017

USGS Principal Investigator: N.K. Ganju

Publications:

Suttles, S.E., Nowacki, D.J., Ganju, N.K., Borden, J., and Nichols, A.R., 2019, Suspended-sediment concentration data from water samples collected in 2016-17 in Grand Bay, Alabama and Mississippi: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P91L4A75.

Nowacki, D.J. and Ganju, N.K., 2019, Simple metrics predict salt‐marsh sediment fluxes. Geophysical Research Letters 46. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083819.

Nowacki, D.J., Ganju, N.K., Suttles, S.E., Borden, J., and Nichols, A., 2018, Discharge measurements made in Bayou Heron and Bayou Middle, Grand Bay, Mississippi in January 2017: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P98NHB82.

Field Activity Reports: 2016-034-FA, 2016-046-FA, 2017-006-FA.

Revision History:

• September 2018, original release
• March 2019, corrected wd_4062 variable data in 5 *diwasp* files

Please use the following citation when referencing this dataset:

Nowacki, D. J., Suttles, S.E., Ganju, N.K., Montgomery, E.T. and Martini, M.A., 2018, Oceanographic and water quality measurements collected in Grand Bay, Alabama/Mississippi – August 2016 – January 2017: U.S. Geological Survey data release https://doi.org/10.5066/P9UG9JYQ.