Led by Horn Point Laboratory oceanographer Ming Li, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) has been awarded a $500,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead a coalition of scientists from around the country to study the impact of storms, sea-level rise, and climate change on estuaries and bays.
This national Research Coordination Network (RCN), part of NSF’s new initiative on People and Coasts (CoPe), will synthesize insights from existing coastal resiliency projects around the country and propose bold new strategies that integrate ecosystem enhancement and recovery to protect coastal communities and infrastructure.
The coalition-based initiative called Estuarine CoPe RCN will study the impact of storms, sea-level rise, and climate change on estuaries and bays. Scientists will focus their attention on coastline management strategies such as engineered structures and natural/nature-based systems. They will also explore the human dimensions of coastal resilience. Funding will provide interdisciplinary training to young scientists through workshops and focus-group interactions.
“It is a recognition of the expertise of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science that we were granted this prestigious award by the National Science Foundation to study how we can make more resilient coastal communities,” said Mike Roman, director of UMCES’ Horn Point Laboratory. “The results that this top team of scientists generates will directly benefit the citizens of Maryland and beyond.”
According to the National Science Foundation, “the goal is to translate research results into specific recommendations for developing coastal resiliency solutions and seek stakeholders’ feedback to orient academic research towards addressing pressing concerns faced by urban and rural communities living around the Nation’s estuaries and bays.”
U.S. coasts feature a number of bays and estuaries within which many metropolitan cities are located, including New York City on the Hudson River, Washington, D.C. near the Chesapeake Bay, and San Francisco on San Francisco Bay. The impacts of sea-level rise and storms on estuaries and bays are just beginning to be understood, and many questions remain unanswered. Natural habitats, such as salt marshes, oyster reefs, and sand dunes offer coastal protection with ecosystem benefits, but the effectiveness and environmental impacts of these structures are not well understood.
“We are fortunate to have this opportunity to collaborate with scientists from a number of institutions across the country, including the University of Maryland, College Park; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Davis; Stevens Institute of Technology; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth; and California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo,” explained organizing Professor Ming Li. “The Estuarine CoPe RCN allows us to bring together oceanographers, engineers, ecologists, and social scientists to synthesize recent research, explore open questions, and advance the transdisciplinary science of coastal resiliency.”
The first workshop will be held March 16-18 at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, located alongside the Hudson River. One full day of the conference will be devoted to dialogues with stakeholders, inviting professionals from the infrastructure management community to provide input and further the discussion.
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The Horn Point Laboratory, located on more than 800 acres on the banks of the Choptank River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, has advanced society’s understanding of the world’s estuarine and ocean ecosystems. The laboratory is a national leader in applying environmental research and discovery to solve society’s most pressing environmental problems.