By Esprit Smith,
NASA’s Earth Science News Team
Researchers with NASA’s Delta-X mission conduct preliminary field work in coastal Louisiana’s delta region. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In Brief:
Teams are headed out by land, water, and air to collect data that will be used to forecast land gain and loss in the Mississippi River Delta as a result of sea level rise.
Around this time last year, scientists and researchers for Delta-X – NASA’s new investigation tasked with studying the Mississippi River Delta – were readying their boats and planes for their first field campaign in coastal Louisiana.
For the water-based part of the campaign, several boats were to be deployed to measure the flow of water through river channels and the subsequent transport of sediment across the region. For the airborne component, three planes outfitted with specialized remote sensing instruments were scheduled to fly over specific areas, taking measurements to estimate water and sediment flows
State officials tour ongoing restoration project on Terrebonne barrier islands
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
Anafi 1.7.7
and last updated 2021-04-05 12:20:09-04
On Monday, Gov. Edwards and other state and local officials toured ongoing construction activities on Trinity-East Island in the Terrebonne Basin.
The island is one of three three barrier islands being restored.
According to a release, the Terrebonne Basin Barrier Island and Beach Nourishment project is using $167 million in funds from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill to restore Trinity-East Island, West Belle Headland, and Timbalier Island.
Trinity-East Island is part of the Isle Dernières Wildlife Refuge, a once-popular resort island on Louisianaâs Southeast coast. In 1856, Isle Dernière was destroyed by the Last Island Hurricane, causing it to eventually split into five individual islands.
PHOTO: Trinity-East Island work coming along nicely March 17, 2021, by Zlatan Hrvacevic
Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) today released a photo update of the Terrebonne Basin barrier shoreline system project.
In the update, CPRA said that over 2 million cubic yards of sand are being used to raise the Trinity-East Island above sea level and restore beach, dune, and marsh habitat on the island.
Overall, this project will restore beach, dune, and marsh habitat within the Terrebonne Basin with restoration work on West Belle Headland, Timbalier Island, and Trinity-East Island.
In total, the scheme will create and/or nourish approximately 1,100 acres of marsh, dune and beach using approximately 9.2 million cubic yards of sediment.
Funding secured for phase I of the Houma Navigation Canal Lock Complex February 10, 2021, posted by Zlatan Hrvacevic
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) has been awarded $26.7 million to fund the dredging of 1.2 million cubic yards of earthen material to begin construction of a lock complex adjacent to the Bubba Dove Floodgate on the Houma Navigation Canal (HNC).
The grant subrecipient, Terrebonne Levee & Conservation District, will perform the dredging activities.
The grant award comes from the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council). The Council previously awarded CPRA $18.5 million for engineering and design of the project. The State has allocated $366 million in RESTORE Act Spill Impact Component funds to this project over a 15-year period.