U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Coastal Inlets Research, With Special Reference to Shore Bird Habitat

摘要

The Coastal Inlets Research Program (CIRP) has the mission to advance knowledge and predictive technology to reduce the cost of dredging, promote navigation channel reliability, and quantify the sediment-sharing interactions between inlets and adjacent beaches. Guidance, numerical models, and desktop tools developed by CIRP can be applied to better understand and predict the ecologic viability of the inlet system for the shore bird population. This technical note is directed towards highlighting CIRP and related research products in the System-Wide Water Resources Program (SWWRP) that can readily be applied or adapted to evaluate existing and predict future bird habitat. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a mission to maintain the navigability of Federal coastal and inland channels. Coastal inlet systems can be dynamic and hazardous, requiring dredging of coastal channels to prevent excessive shoaling. CIRP is supporting the Corps, private industry, and academia in addressing engineering and science problems at coastal inlets. Progress is reported on the CIRP Web site (http://cirp.wes. army.mil/cirp/cirp.html), which describes CIRP activities, contains publications for downloading, and gives directions on how to obtain or access products and technology such as models, analysis procedures, and data. Research and development in CIRP covers field data collection, numerical modeling, physical modeling, lessons learned, and basic research on hydrodynamics (waves, currents, water level), sediment transport, and morphology change as required to progress in the product-oriented applied research. This SWWRP technical note highlights CIRP products of potential interest to the ecological community for evaluating existing and predicting future coastal habitat.