@article{185696,
  author = {Jiabi Du and Kyeong Park and Timothy Dellapenna and Jacinta Clay},
  title = {Dramatic hydrodynamic and sedimentary responses in Galveston Bay and adjacent inner shelf to Hurricane Harvey},
  abstract = { Hurricane Harvey, one of the worst hurricanes that hit the United States in recent history, poured record-breaking rainfall across the Houston metropolitan area. Based on a comprehensive set of data from various sources, we examined the dramatic responses in hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes of Galveston Bay to this extreme event. Using a freshwater fraction method that circumvents the uncertainties in surface runoff and groundwater discharge, the freshwater load into the bay during Harvey and the following month was estimated to be 11.1 {\texttimes} 10<sup>9</sup> m<sup>3</sup>, about 3 times the bay volume, which had completely refreshed the entire bay. Harvey also delivered 9.86 {\texttimes} 10<sup>7</sup> metric tons of sediment into the bay, equivalent to 18 years of average annual sediment load. At a site inside the San Jacinto Estuary, acute bed erosion of 48 cm followed by deposition of 22 cm of new sediment was observed from the sediment cores. Slow salinity recovery (~2 month) and a thick flood deposit (~10.5 cm average over the entire bay) had likely impacted the ecosystem in the bay and the adjacent inner shelf. Estuaries with similar bathymetric and geometric characteristics, i.e., shallow bathymetry~with narrow outlets, are expected to experience similar dramatic estuarine responses while extreme precipitation events are expected to occur more frequently under the warming climate. },
  year = {2019},
  journal = {Science of The Total Environment},
  volume = {697},
  pages = {554-564},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.403},
  language = {eng},
}