Attaining freshwater and estuarine-water soil saturation in an ecosystem-scale coastal flooding experiment

Journal Article · Thu Feb 23 23:00:00 EST 2023 · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10807-0· OSTI ID:1958672

Hopple, A. M.; Doro, K. O.; Bailey, V. L.; Bond-Lamberty, B.; McDowell, N.; Morris, K. A.; Myers-Pigg, A.; Pennington, S. C.; Regier, P.; Rich, R.; Sengupta, A.; Smith, R.; Stegen, J.; Ward, N. D.; Woodard, S. C.; Megonigal, J. P.

Abstract

Coastal upland forests are facing widespread mortality as sea-level rise accelerates and precipitation and storm regimes change. The loss of coastal forests has significant implications for the coastal carbon cycle; yet, predicting mortality likelihood is difficult due to our limited understanding of disturbance impacts on coastal forests. The manipulative, ecosystem-scale Terrestrial Ecosystem Manipulation to Probe the Effects of Storm Treatments (TEMPEST) experiment addresses the potential for freshwater and estuarine-water disturbance events to alter tree function, species composition, and ecosystem processes in a deciduous coastal forest in MD, USA. The experiment uses a large-unit (2000 m ² ), un-replicated experimental design, with three 50 m × 40 m plots serving as control, freshwater, and estuarine-water treatments. Transient saturation (5 h) of the entire soil rooting zone (0–30 cm) across a 2000 m ² coastal forest was attained by delivering 300 m ³ of water through a spatially distributed irrigation network at a rate just above the soil infiltration rate. Our water delivery approach also elevated the water table (typically ~ 2 m belowground) and achieved extensive, low-level inundation (~ 8 cm standing water). A TEMPEST simulation approximated a 15-cm rainfall event and based on historic records, was of comparable intensity to a 10-year storm for the area. This characterization was supported by showing that Hurricane Ida’s (~ 5 cm rainfall) hydrologic impacts were shorter (40% lower duration) and less expansive (80% less coverage) than those generated through experimental manipulation. Future work will apply TEMPEST treatments to evaluate coastal forest resilience to changing hydrologic disturbance regimes and identify conditions that initiate ecosystem state transitions.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1958672
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1958955
• Journal Information: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Journal Name: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 195; ISSN 0167-6369
• Publisher: Springer Science + Business Media
• Country of Publication: Netherlands
• Language: English