Hurricane Ida caused massive marsh loss in the Barataria Basin when it made landfall in 2021. The marsh loss due to Ida is equivalent to 32 years of coastal erosion without hurricanes.
Oceanography and coastal sciences associate professors Giulio Mariotti and Tracy Quirk found that not all marshes are equally susceptible to hurricane damage.
The two professors published a paper on their findings last month. According to their research, 82% of the marshes lost during Hurricane Ida had intermediate salinities, meaning that they were surrounded by brackish water. Those marshes were also dominated by the plant Spartina patens…