²Ñ°äÌý5501
CANCELLED
Speaker
Heidi Nepf |ÌýMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Title
How vegetation alters waves and current, and the feedbacks to systemÌýfunction
Abstract
Aquatic vegetation provides a wide range of ecosystem services valued atÌýover 4 trillion dollars per year. Seagrasses, salt marshes, and mangroves,Ìýdamp storm surge and waves, mitigate anthropogenic nutrient loads,Ìýand provide important habitat and blue carbon reservoirs. The conservationÌýandÌýrestoration of these landscapes has become a focus ofÌýnature-based solutions for coastal protection and carbon mitigation. ThisÌýseminar will presentÌýsome concepts in vegetation hydrodynamics,Ìýfocusing on flexible meadows of seagrass, for which the bending of plantsÌýin response to fluid motionÌý(called reconfiguration) plays anÌýimportant role in setting the drag. Scaling laws are developed to describeÌýthe damping of currents and waves as aÌýfunction of plant morphology,Ìýflexibility, and shoot density. The feedbacks fromÌýplant-flow interaction to sediment transport and carbon sequestrationÌýareÌýdiscussed.
