OUR PROJECTS
In Louisiana and around the world, the Institute’s team of researchers bring decades of accumulated coastal and water management knowledge to the challenge that face coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems.
Finding the right flow
Estuaries, wetlands, and swamps depend upon the constant inflow of fresh water to sustain the ecosystem’s balance of plants and animals as well as pro...
View ProjectTracing Amite River sediment in the wake of the August 2016 flood
A heavy rain turned into a deluge in August 2016, ultimately resulting in more than 19 inches of precipitation falling in Baton Rouge and more than 31...
View ProjectDevelopment and application of a hydrological model in the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge
In 2011, an extended drought in southeastern Texas led to elevated salinity levels in a number of locations throughout the Anahuac National Wildlife R...
View ProjectIdentifying the vulnerability of critical infrastructure
When storm surge and extreme rainfall events inundate an area of coastal Louisiana, it’s not just homes and businesses that receive damage. Critical f...
View ProjectA Louisiana Coastal Atlas: Resources, Economies, and Demographics
Although tropical storms loom large in Louisiana’s history and in dictating population shifts over time, it really only tells a small portion of the s...
View ProjectIdentifying how communities respond to disasters
Although there has been good work (see the Louisiana Coastal Atlas) on defining when and where Louisiana’s residents have moved throughout the state o...
View ProjectProviding a better picture of the rapidly changing Mekong Delta
At the seaward end of one of the most geopolitically complex watersheds on Earth lies the Mekong Delta. The river flows through six countries that are...
View ProjectCalcasieu Ship Channel salinity control project
The Calcasieu Ship Channel connects the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of Lake Charles, but it also serves as a conduit for salt water to move into Calcas...
View ProjectRelationships between salinity and short-term soil carbon accumulation rates from marsh types across a landscape in the Mississippi River Delta
Many of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands depend upon the annual cycle of birth and death of plant material to help build up soil height as a way of trying...
View ProjectImpact of black mangrove expansion in coastal Louisiana
With fewer winters experiencing extended periods of freezing temperatures, the black mangrove has been expanding in south Louisiana for the past 20 ye...
View ProjectLooking for blue crab preferences in a changing coastal environment
Despite coastal land loss, Louisiana’s coastline and estuaries support some of the most productive and economically important fisheries in the Gulf of...
View Project“This is your shield…this is your estuary”
Although coastal restoration and protection is sometimes thought to only require technical input, coastal communities around the world also hold valua...
View ProjectPacific Ecosystem Based Adaptation to Climate Change Project
Like coastal communities all over the world, countries in the Pacific Islands face shoreline erosion, subsidence, sea level rise, and other challenges...
View ProjectLouisiana’s 2017 Coastal Master Plan
The loss of more than 1,800 square miles of coastal land endangers far more than just wetland ecosystems. Louisiana’s coastal area is home to more tha...
View ProjectHydrodynamic modeling for the Fritchie Marsh
This project was intended to gain insight into the hydrodynamics of Fritchie Marsh, a wetland system on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain region w...
View ProjectLower Barataria Basin and Lower Breton Sound Sediment Diversion Feasibility Study
Diversion site selection required new in-depth knowledge of the morphodynamic and water constituent transport properties in both the lower river syste...
View ProjectMid-Barataria Engineering Modeling Support
In 2015, The Water Institute of the Gulf developed a basin-wide model for the Louisiana Coastal Area, which was applied to study various scenarios wit...
View ProjectDetermining habitat function, decomposition, and carbon accumulation across four marsh habitat types in coastal Louisiana
The tug-of-war between climate change and associated sea level rise with the efforts to combat those threats through coastal restoration efforts means...
View ProjectRESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana
In the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Congress passed the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportun...
View ProjectThe Natural Classroom Project
Bayou Gross Tete-Grand Bayou is impaired for both fish and wildlife propagation – due to problems with amounts of dissolved oxygen, nitrate/nitrite, t...
View ProjectNational Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) – Coastal Restoration Working Group
Conservation and development challenges around the world are complicated and cross the arbitrary borders between ecological conservation and sustainab...
View ProjectSupporting the Working Coast
Land loss, sea level rise, subsidence, and storms increasingly threaten the economic sustainability of Gulf coastal areas at a time when populations a...
View ProjectNWF Barataria Salinity Project
Understanding the historical temporal and spatial patterns of salinity in the Barataria Basin is important not only to better understand and manage th...
View ProjectPartnership for Our Working Coast
Planned Port Fourchon improvements will result in millions of cubic yards of dredged materials that should be put to beneficial use. The challenge is ...
View ProjectPlanning for ecosystem-based adaptation in the Pacific island countries
Pacific island countries and territories are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the next few decades, these countries will face increasing threat...
View ProjectStatewide Water Resources Framework
Louisiana isn’t normally known for a lack of water, but there are several aquifers around the state where demand has highlighted the need for better i...
View ProjectCity of Covington: Flood Response Plan Development
In March 2016, heavy rainfall events created severe flash flooding in the city, prompting city leaders to look for a new approach in order to prepare ...
View ProjectLong-term strategic water sustainability plan
The Capital Area Ground Water Conservation District (CAGWCC) was created by the Louisiana Legislature through Act 678 of 1974 due to concerns in the r...
View ProjectBlue Carbon
A recent report from the National Academies (National Research Council, 2015) recommends “research and development investment to improve methods of ca...
View ProjectConnecting local knowledge and scientific understanding
Between 1932 and 2010, Louisiana’s coastal area lost more than 1,800 square mile of land through a variety of means including erosion, subsidence, lac...
View ProjectDutch Dialogues® Charleston
Situated on a peninsula between two rivers and exposed on a third side to the Atlantic Ocean, Charleston, South Carolina, is increasingly exposed to n...
View ProjectHouston's Resilience Strategy
On Aug. 25, 2017, the Category 4 Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas causing widespread damage and flooding. According to the Harris County Flood ...
View ProjectFlood Risk Awareness System Development
Probabilistic weather forecasts provided to the public – e.g., a 30% chance of heavy rain showers that will likely causes localized flooding - are dif...
View ProjectLouisiana Adaptive Management Status and Improvement Report: Vision and Recommendations
While the idea of using adaptive management as part of coastal restoration work has been around for years, it is complicated to implement. There are m...
View ProjectFEMA Cooperating Technical Partners Special Project: Flood Insurance Public Service Announcements
The Institute is a FEMA Cooperating Technical Partner (CTP) for FEMA Region 6 and the State of Louisiana. The Institute’s CTP Program Management activ...
View ProjectLouisiana Barrier Island System Management (BISM): Structured Decision-Making
There has been a multidecadal effort in Louisiana to restore these rapidly degrading barrier islands, which has been effective in preserving and prote...
View ProjectSystem-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP)
Since the early 1990s, a number of project-specific monitoring efforts have been established by state agencies and other entities. Comprehensive monit...
View ProjectLouisiana Coastal Neotectonics and Subsidence Expert Panel
The Water Institute of the Gulf assembled an expert panel composed of recognized experts in the fields of neotectonics/subsidence and geomorphic/sedim...
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