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Twenty-Year Record of Salt Marsh Elevation Dynamics in Response to Sea-Level Rise and Storm-Driven Barrier Island Geomorphic Processes: Fire Island, NY, USA

  • Special Issue: Wetland Elevation Dynamics
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Abstract

Twenty years of surface elevation table and marker horizon monitoring at three sites along the Fire Island (New York, USA) barrier island indicates that rates of marsh surface elevation change (Watch Hill, 4.4 mm year−1; Hospital Point, 3.5 mm year−1; Great Gun, − 0.3 mm year−1) were lower than the rate of monthly mean sea-level rise during the 2002–2022 monitoring period (5.1 mm year−1, NOAA Sandy Hook, NJ, water level station). The Great Gun monitoring site, with an elevation deficit relative to sea-level rise, shallow subsidence (surface accretion > marsh elevation rate), low elevation capital, prolonged marsh surface flooding, and declining vegetation cover, displays characteristics common to deteriorating marshes. The submergence trend was not as evident at the other monitoring sites, but with low tidal range (0.4 m) and projections of accelerated sea-level rise, sustainability is questioned if marsh elevation change continues to lag behind the local rate of relative sea-level rise. Hurricane Sandy occurred during the monitoring period (October 2012), creating a new inlet located about 300 m from one of the monitoring sites. Surprisingly, no immediate signals of deposition or erosion were noted from the marker horizon sampling. Overwash sand deposits on the marsh surface were extensive along Fire Island, although not reaching the monitoring sites, and will likely provide opportunities for future salt marsh growth, as will the flood-tide delta created by the inlet. Projecting the future of barrier island salt marshes under a regime of accelerated sea-level rise and episodic storms requires knowledge of marsh elevation and accretion processes and geomorphic dynamics.

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Data Availability

All SET and marker horizon data presented in this paper are available at US Government data catalog; https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/surface-elevation-table-set-data-package.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are extended to the staff at Fire Island National Seashore for providing logistical and field support throughout the study, with special acknowledgement to Michael Bilecki, Jordan Raphael, and Patti Rafferty. Many individuals, too many to list here, provided assistance with the field sampling, including students, National Park Service and U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) colleagues, and others — many thanks to all. Charles Flagg (Stony Brook University) is thanked for providing oblique aerial images of the Wilderness Area inlet. Michael Bilecki and anonymous USGS reviewers are thanked for their comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. Thanks are also extended to the journal’s peer reviewers.

Funding

Funding was provided by several National Park Service programs (Natural Resource Preservation Program, Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, and North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit) and the USGS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    Charles T. Roman

  2. Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, National Park Service, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    James C. Lynch

  3. Eastern Ecological Science Center, U. S. Geological Survey, Laurel, MD, 20705, USA

    Donald R. Cahoon

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  1. Charles T. Roman
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Correspondence to Charles T. Roman.

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The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Park Service. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Communicated by Stijn Temmerman

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Roman, C.T., Lynch, J.C. & Cahoon, D.R. Twenty-Year Record of Salt Marsh Elevation Dynamics in Response to Sea-Level Rise and Storm-Driven Barrier Island Geomorphic Processes: Fire Island, NY, USA. Estuaries and Coasts (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-023-01234-6

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