Collaborative Research: RAPID: The 2011 Atchafalaya River Flood and a possible altered system state for the Atchafalaya River Delta Estuary

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

This RAPID research project will examine ecosystem and biogeochemical impacts of a 200-year flood of the Mississippi River along a transect from the Atchafalaya River, which is receiving massive inputs of water from the Morganza Spillway in addition to already high flood waters, to the Atchafalaya River Delta Estuary, to the northern Gulf of Mexico. The researchers will focus on how an extreme event in a river system having extensive interaction with wetlands and floodplain swamps alters carbon quality, nutrients, and sediment transport to the Gulf, as well as how these biogeochemical changes affect ecosystem respiration and the food web. The broader impacts of the research include contributions to human resource development and to management issues. The project will interface with an existing Research Experience for Undergraduates program, affording students an opportunity to gain first-hand experience studying an extreme event in a floodplain river. Because extreme events such as this are expected to become more common in the future, this study will provide important information to managers, who currently must make decisions about river and flood management based on limited knowledge of the ecosystem effects of this type of event.