Storm Surges at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge

This project quantified the ability of salt marshes in the Chesapeake Bay to attenuate coastal hazards; including the attenuation of storm surge and the reduction of wave energy by these natural ecosystems. The project documented the interaction of storm surges and waves with marshes by measuring hydrodynamic conditions in the field during extreme events (waves, currents and water levels), vegetation bio-mechanic characteristics (biomass, stem height, diameter, and density) and topo-bathymetric surveys in several natural preserves in the Chesapeake Bay during the extent of the project, including several coastal storms and hurricanes. All the field procedures, data processing, equipment and project methodology are described in the QAPP document. This dataset provides the information for the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge.