Beneficial use of dredged material is<b> </b>the placement of dredged material to enhance, create, or restore a variety of estuarine habitats, as opposed to the usual practice of disposing of it in an upland confined facility. In 2013, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and multiple federal and state partners initiated three pilot projects to evaluate the concept of beneficial use of dredged material on existing, but stressed and vulnerable, salt marshes. Three deposition sites and two background sites were identified in salt marshes of southern New Jersey. The continuing project goal is to improve their structure, ecological functions, and resiliency, thus helping them to persist into the future in the face of sea level rise. Multiple sensors were deployed during the monitoring of the project.  Water chemistry was monitored post placement using EXO™ sondes to evaluate surface pools and a series of monitoring wells that were installed throughout each site. Both the enhanced and reference sites were monitored during times of flushing and times of stagnation in order to see if the variability in the water quality chemistry at the enhanced site was within the normal range for that parameter. Mutiple measurements were made by the Wetlands Institute and NJDEP Division of Science and Research to assure the quality of the measurements. Survey grade RTK-GPS and ground based lidar were used to map the changing elevations at the sites. The high-precision GPS 3-D coordinates provided location data that was utilized to correct the information that was collected by programmed drone overflights that were conducted at various times during the seasonal growing periods to identify and assess the vegetative recovery of the estuarine habitats. The high resolution drone images were post processed to create a geographical information system project layer using ESRI™ Drone to Map software so that the partners could utilize the layer to determine the changes in the study area with time. A continuous-pressure sensor network has been deployed throughout the study area with local air reference stations, monitoring well locations near ground elevation reference points, and submerged in channels within the study areas to document tidal height variability. In combination, these data can be used to explore relationships between elevation, inundation, water chemistry, and vegetative recovery of salt marsh habitat enhanced by dredged material .

Use of airborne and ground-based physical and chemical sensors for monitoring tidal wetlands enhancement projects

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.