The Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative helping a team of researchers put years of research into action with the NOAA funded NGOM+N2E2 project.
The project uses dynamic modeling capabilities focused on understanding the effectiveness of natural and nature based features to reduce nuisance flooding and storm surge under sea level rise.
“We’re looking at how natural and nature based features like marshes, oyster reefs, or dunes can reduce the impacts of nuisance flooding and storm surge as sea level rises,” MTAG-PI Renee Collini said. “Using recent advancements in sea-level rise science by Dr. Scott Hagen’s team processes like waves and tides can be taken into account to get a better understanding of how these natural and nature based features can protect our coastal ecosystems, communities, and economies.”
The NGOM+N2E2 team kicked off the project in the spring with a workshop at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve. The workshop focused on communicating with decision-makers about these dynamic modeling capabilities and understanding the needs of the natural resource management community around these natural and nature based features.
“We want to understand resource management needs and what information and analysis will help them the most,” Collini said.
Moving forward, the NGOM+N2E2 team will continue engaging with the management community through a Management Transition Advisory Group (MTAG) as they utilize their dynamic modeling approach to research the impact of natural and nature based features across the northern Gulf of Mexico.