A recent Bay Journal article that highlighted both state agency and researcher efforts to mitigate and better understand the flooding and erosion of Deal Island, included commentary by ESSIC associate research professor Ariana Sutton-Grier.
Deal Island, a community of about 400 people located on the Chesapeake Bay’s western shore, is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, storms, and flooding due to its exposure to the Bay’s wind and waves. Sutton-Grier is the director of science for The Nature Conservancy’s MD/DC chapter, a group providing $30,000 in grants towards a George Mason University research project on the issue.
Sutton-Grier stated that developing an understanding of how different landscape features attenuate or slow down wave energy is a long-term key to prevent erosion and flooding risk.
At ESSIC, Sutton-Grier is an ecosystem ecologist with expertise in wetland ecology and restoration, biodiversity, biogeochemistry, climate change, and ecosystem services.
To read the article in full, click here: “Will dunes project be Deal Islanders’ line in sand against flooding?”.
