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Atmospheric cold fronts can periodically generate storm surges and affect sediment transport in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM). In this paper, we evaluate water circulation spatiotemporal patterns induced by six atmospheric cold front events in the Wax Lake Delta (WLD) in coastal Louisiana using the 3-D hydrodynamic model ECOM-si. Model simulations show that channelized and inter-distributary water flow is significantly impacted by cold fronts. Water volume transport throughout the deltaic channel network is not just constrained to the main channels but also occurs laterally across channels accounting for about a quarter of the total flow. Results show that a significant landward flow occurs across the delta prior to the frontal passage, resulting in a positive storm surge on the coast. The along-channel current velocity dominates while cross-channel water transport occurs at the southwest lobe during the post-frontal stage. Depending on local weather conditions, the cold-front-induced flushing event lasts for 1.7 to 7 days and can flush 32–76% of the total water mass out of the system, a greater range of variability than previous reports. The magnitude of water flushed out of the system is not necessarily dependent on the duration of the frontal events. An energy partitioning analysis shows that the relative importance of subtidal energy (10–45% of the total) and tidal energy (20–70%) varies substantially from station to station and is linked to the weather impact. It is important to note that within the WLD region, the weather-induced subtidal energy (46–66% of the total) is much greater than the diurnal tidal energy (13–25% of the total). The wind associated with cold fronts in winter is the main factor controlling water circulation in the WLD and is a major driver in the spatial configuration of the channel network and delta progradation rates. 

Environmental temperature is a widely used variable to describe weather and climate conditions. The use of temperature anomalies to identify variations in climate and weather systems makes temperature a key variable to evaluate not only climate variability but also shifts in ecosystem structural and functional properties. In contrast to terrestrial ecosystems, the assessment of regional temperature anomalies in coastal wetlands is more complex since the local temperature is modulated by hydrology and weather. Thus, it is unknown how the regional free-air temperature (T Free ) is coupled to local temperature anomalies, which can vary across interfaces among vegetation canopy, water, and soil that modify the wetland microclimate regime. Here, we investigated the temperature differences (offsets) at those three interfaces in mangrove-saltmarsh ecotones in coastal Louisiana and South Florida in the northern Gulf of Mexico (2017–2019). We found that the canopy offset (range: 0.2–1.6°C) between T Free and below-canopy temperature (T Canopy ) was caused by the canopy buffering effect. The similar offset values in both Louisiana and Florida underscore the role of vegetation in regulating near-ground energy fluxes. Overall, the inundation depth did not influence soil temperature (T Soil ). The interaction between frequency and duration of inundation, however, significantly modulated T Soil given the presence of water on the wetland soil surface, thus attenuating any short- or long-term changes in the T Canopy and T Free . Extreme weather events—including cold fronts and tropical cyclones—induced high defoliation and weakened canopy buffering, resulting in long-term changes in canopy or soil offsets. These results highlight the need to measure simultaneously the interaction between ecological and climatic processes to reduce uncertainty when modeling macro- and microclimate in coastal areas under a changing climate, especially given the current local temperature anomalies data scarcity. This work advances the coupling of Earth system models to climate models to forecast regional and global climate change and variability along coastal areas. 

To determine whether mangrove soil accretion can keep up with increasing rates of sea level rise, we modeled the theoretical, steady-state (i.e., excluding hurricane impacts) limits to vertical soil accretion in riverine mangrove forests on the southwest coast of Florida, USA. We measured dry bulk density (BD) and loss on ignition (LOI) from mangrove soils collected over a period of 12 years along an estuarine transect of the Shark River. The plotted relationship between BD and LOI was fit to an idealized mixing model equation that provided estimates of organic and inorganic packing densities in the soils. We used these estimates in combination with measures of root production and mineral deposition to calculate their combined contribution to steady-state, vertical soil accretion. On average, the modeled rates of accretion (0.9 to 2.4 mm year−1) were lower than other measured rates of soil accretion at these sites and far less than a recent estimate of sea level rise in south Florida (7.7 mm year−1). To date, however, no evidence of mangrove “drowning” has been observed in this region of the Everglades, indicating that assumptions of the linear accretion model are invalid and/or other contributions to soil accretion (e.g., additional sources of organic matter; feedbacks between physical sedimentation processes and biological responses to short-term environmental change) make up the accretion deficit. This exercise highlights the potential positive impacts of hurricanes on non-steady-state soil accretion that contribute to the persistence of neotropical mangroves in regions of high disturbance frequency such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean region. 

Mangroves are the most blue-carbon rich coastal wetlands contributing to the reduction of atmospheric CO₂through photosynthesis (sequestration) and high soil organic carbon (C) storage. Globally, mangroves are increasingly impacted by human and natural disturbances under climate warming, including pervasive pulsing tropical cyclones. However, there is limited information assessing cyclone’s functional role in regulating wetlands carbon cycling from annual to decadal scales. Here we show how cyclones with a wide range of integrated kinetic energy (IKE) impact C fluxes in the Everglades, a neotropical region with high cyclone landing frequency. Using long-term mangrove Net Primary Productivity (Litterfall, NPP_L) data (2001–2018), we estimated cyclone-induced litterfall particulate organic C (litter-POC) export from mangroves to estuarine waters. Our analysis revealed that this lateral litter-POC flux (71–205 g C m⁻² year⁻¹)—currently unaccounted in global C budgets—is similar to C burial rates (69–157 g C m⁻² year⁻¹) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC, 61–229 g C m⁻² year⁻¹) export. We proposed a statistical model (PULITER) between IKE-based pulse index and NPP_Lto determine cyclone’s impact on mangrove role as C sink or source. Including the cyclone’s functional role in regulating mangrove C fluxes is critical to developing local and regional climate change mitigation plans.

 

Hurricanes are recurring high-energy disturbances in coastal regions that change community structure and function of mangrove wetlands. However, most of the studies assessing hurricane impacts on mangroves have focused on negative effects without considering the positive influence of hurricane-induced sediment deposition and associated nutrient fertilization on mangrove productivity and resilience. Here, we quantified how Hurricane Irma influenced soil nutrient pools, vertical accretion, and plant phosphorus (P) uptake after its passage across the Florida Coastal Everglades in September 2017. Vertical accretion from Irma’s deposits was 6.7 to 14.4 times greater than the long-term (100 y) annual accretion rate (0.27 ± 0.04 cm y⁻¹). Storm deposits extended up to 10-km inland from the Gulf of Mexico. Total P (TP) inputs were highest at the mouth of estuaries, with P concentration double that of underlying surface (top 10 cm) soils (0.19 ± 0.02 mg cm⁻³). This P deposition contributed 49 to 98% to the soil nutrient pool. As a result, all mangrove species showed a significant increase in litter foliar TP and soil porewater inorganic P concentrations in early 2018, 3 mo after Irma’s impact, thus underscoring the interspecies differences in nutrient uptake. Mean TP loading rates were five times greater in southwestern (94 ± 13 kg ha⁻¹d⁻¹) mangrove-dominated estuaries compared to the southeastern region, highlighting the positive role of hurricanes as a natural fertilization mechanism influencing forest productivity. P-rich, mineral sediments deposited by hurricanes create legacies that facilitate rapid forest recovery, stimulation of peat soil development, and resilience to sea-level rise.

 

Abstract. Geography and associated hydrological, hydroclimate and land-useconditions and their changes determine the states and dynamics of wetlandsand their ecosystem services. The influences of these controls are notlimited to just the local scale of each individual wetland but extend overlarger landscape areas that integrate multiple wetlands and their totalhydrological catchment – the wetlandscape. However, the data and knowledgeof conditions and changes over entire wetlandscapes are still scarce,limiting the capacity to accurately understand and manage critical wetlandecosystems and their services under global change. We present a newWetlandscape Change Information Database (WetCID), consisting of geographic,hydrological, hydroclimate and land-use information and data for 27wetlandscapes around the world. This combines survey-based local informationwith geographic shapefiles and gridded datasets of large-scale hydroclimateand land-use conditions and their changes over whole wetlandscapes.Temporally, WetCID contains 30-year time series of data for mean monthlyprecipitation and temperature and annual land-use conditions. Thesurvey-based site information includes local knowledge on the wetlands,hydrology, hydroclimate and land uses within each wetlandscape and on theavailability and accessibility of associated local data. This novel database(available through PANGAEA https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.907398; Ghajarniaet al., 2019) can support site assessments; cross-regional comparisons; andscenario analyses of the roles and impacts of land use, hydroclimatic andwetland conditions, and changes in whole-wetlandscape functions and ecosystemservices.