Assessing Sea-Level Rise Impact On Saltwater Intrusion Into The Root Zone Of A Geo-Typical Area In Coastal East-Central Florida

Keywords

East-central Florida coast; FEMWATER; Root zone; Salinity; Saltwater intrusion; Sea-level rise

Abstract

Saltwater intrusion (SWI) into root zone in low-lying coastal areas can affect the survival and spatial distribution of various vegetation species by altering plant communities and the wildlife habitats they support. In this study, a baseline model was developed based on FEMWATER to simulate the monthly variation of root zone salinity of a geo-typical area located at the Cape Canaveral Barrier Island Complex (CCBIC) of coastal east-central Florida (USA) in 2010. Based on the developed and calibrated baseline model, three diagnostic FEMWATER models were developed to predict the extent of SWI into root zone by modifying the boundary values representing the rising sea level based on various sea-level rise (SLR) scenarios projected for 2080. The simulation results indicated that the extent of SWI would be insignificant if SLR is either low (23.4 cm) or intermediate (59.0 cm), but would be significant if SLR is high (119.5 cm) in that infiltration/diffusion of overtopping seawater in coastal low-lying areas can greatly increase root zone salinity level, since the sand dunes may fail to prevent the landward migration of seawater because the waves of the rising sea level can reach and pass over the crest under high (119.5 cm) SLR scenario.

Publication Date

7-15-2018

Publication Title

Science of the Total Environment

Volume

630

Number of Pages

211-221

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.184

Socpus ID

85042350658 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85042350658

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