Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center

The degree to which wetlands attenuate surge is the subject of
debate and difficult to assess. The potential of wetlands to reduce storm surge has typically been expressed as a constant attenuation rate, but the actual situation is much more complex.   A numerical storm surge model was applied to assess the sensitivity of surge response to specified wetland loss.  Results suggest that wetlands do have the potential to reduce surges but the magnitude of attenuation is dependent on the surrounding coastal landscape and the strength and duration of the storm forcing. Numerical models that simulate the relevant physical processes can provide valuable information on how to best integrate wetlands for coastal protection. However, while the model applied for this study has displayed skill in estimating surges over wetlands, the formulations are missing key processes
and model advancements are necessary.