Change in salinity exposure of salt marsh units in Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy

As part of the Hurricane Sandy Science Plan, the U.S. Geological Survey is expanding National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards and forecast products to coastal wetlands. The intent is to provide federal, state, and local managers with tools to estimate the vulnerability of coastal wetlands to various factors and to evaluate their ecosystem service potential. For this purpose, the response and resilience of coastal wetlands to physical factors need to be assessed in terms of the ensuing change to their vulnerability and ecosystem services. Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), New Jersey, was selected as a pilot study area. As part of this data synthesis effort, hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling of Barnegat [...]