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Impacts of a Major Mississippi River Freshwater Diversion on Suspended Sediment Plume Kinematics in Lake Pontchartrain, a Semi-enclosed Gulf of Mexico Estuary

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Abstract

MODIS satellite imagery and in situ water measurements were used to quantify inorganic sediment concentration (ISC) and, subsequently, sediment plume motion and evolution during the 2016 diversion of the Mississippi River through the Bonnet Carré Spillway (BCS) within Lake Pontchartrain (LP) estuary in Louisiana, USA. Satellite images revealed that sediment plume areal distribution was closely linked to BCS discharge rate. The plume flowed eastward along the southern LP coastline at an average speed of ~ 0.3 m s−1 during the first week of the event and attained its maximum areal extent (~ 1117 km2; 68% of the total LP area) on 23 January. In an attempt to examine the plume kinematics and potential sediment resuspension impacts, wind information was also assessed. Following BCS closure, the prevailing wind direction, but not wind speed, corresponded to significant differences in LP ISC. LP was further subdivided into four separate quadrants to assess relationships between ISC within each quadrant to BCS discharge rate and winds. While the BCS was open, the plume’s eastward motion was associated with a high correlation (r2 = 0.93) between BCS discharge and ISC in the southeast quadrant. However, the weak relationship (r2 = 0.42) between BCS discharge and ISC in the northwest quadrant was attributed to influences from other tributaries. These results will benefit future research regarding impacts of freshwater diversions on coastal and estuarine processes that are sensitive to sediment influx by providing a satellite-based sediment map time series that can be used to help validate numerical circulation and sediment transport models.

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Acknowledgments

The Water Institute of the Gulf is acknowledged for providing inorganic sediment data from Barataria Bay and the coastal ocean (April 2016). Alaric Haag, systems manager of the LSU Earth Scan Laboratory, is thanked for providing image processing support to this project. Benjamin Haywood and Eddie Weeks are acknowledged for assistance in collecting the Lake Pontchartrain estuary samples that contributed to the inorganic sediment model development. Gratitude is extended to Chunyan Li for the modeled wind data and to Ishan Joshi for assistance with field collection of spectroradiometer measurements. Additional thanks are owed to Steven DiMarco, Henry Potter, and Meng Lyu for their assistance with the statistical analysis of winds. Figures 1 and 2 service layer sources: ESRI, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the ArcGIS User Community.

Funding

The NOAA IOOS Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System, the Water Institute of the Gulf, and Louisiana Sea Grant are thanked for providing partial funding for this project.

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  1. Robert L. Iles IV

    Present address: Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, College of the Coast & Environment, Louisiana State University, 93 S. Quad Drive, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    Robert L. Iles IV, Nan D. Walker, John R. White & Robert V. Rohli

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  1. Robert L. Iles IV
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Correspondence to Robert L. Iles IV.

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Communicated by Richard C. Zimmerman

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Iles, R.L., Walker, N.D., White, J.R. et al. Impacts of a Major Mississippi River Freshwater Diversion on Suspended Sediment Plume Kinematics in Lake Pontchartrain, a Semi-enclosed Gulf of Mexico Estuary. Estuaries and Coasts 44, 704–721 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00789-y

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