Synthesising wave attenuation for seagrass: Drag coefficient as a unifying indicator

An estimated 100 million people inhabit coastal areas at risk from flooding and erosion due to climate change. Seagrass meadows, like other coastal ecosystems, attenuate waves. Due to inconsistencies in how wave attenuation is measured results cannot be directly compared. We synthesised data from la...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2020-11, Vol.160, p.111661-111661, Article 111661
Main Authors: Twomey, Alice J., O'Brien, Katherine R., Callaghan, David P., Saunders, Megan I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Coastal ecosystems
Coastal protection
Coastal zone
Computational fluid dynamics
Drag coefficient
Drag coefficients
Ecosystem services
Environmental changes
Environmental risk
Field tests
Flooding
Mathematical models
Meta-analysis
Parameter estimation
Plant cover
Sea grasses
Seagrass
Statistical models
Storms
Turbulent flow
Wave attenuation
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Summary:An estimated 100 million people inhabit coastal areas at risk from flooding and erosion due to climate change. Seagrass meadows, like other coastal ecosystems, attenuate waves. Due to inconsistencies in how wave attenuation is measured results cannot be directly compared. We synthesised data from laboratory and field experiments of seagrass-wave attenuation by converting measurements to drag coefficients (CD). Drag coefficients varied from 0.02–5.12 with CD¯ = 0.74 for studies conducted in turbulent flow in non-storm conditions. A statistical model suggested that seagrass species affects CD although the exact mechanism remains unclear. A wave model using the estimated CD¯ as an input parameter demonstrated that wave attenuation increased with meadow length, shoot density, shoot width and canopy height. Findings can be used to estimate wave attenuation by seagrass, in any given set of conditions. •Drag coefficient of seagrass can be used to predict wave attenuation where data is not available.•Seagrass species have a significant effect on the drag coefficient of seagrass.•Wave attenuation increases with seagrass shoot height, width, density and meadow length.•Wave attenuation by seagrass is non-linear and varies with wave, environment and seagrass factors.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111661