Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Resource Science

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Storm surges are among the most significant threats to coastal wetlands, causing flooding and saltwater intrusion that alter hydrology, vegetation structure, and long-term ecosystem resilience. Along the Louisiana coast, storm surge effects vary depending on storm behavior, shoreline geometry, and marsh hydrologic connectivity, yet are commonly characterized using broad storm metrics rather than site-specific environmental responses. This study develops a data-driven framework to classify storm surges across coastal Louisiana wetlands using observations from the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS). Hourly water-level and salinity time series from twelve hurricanes (2007-2024) were analyzed using a 40-day storm-centered window. Hydrologic and salinity metrics describing water-level magnitude, salinity intrusion, and surge persistence were derived for individual storm-station events and integrated with GIS-derived spatial exposure variables (i.e., distance to coastline, to canals, and to levees, marsh type and basin classification). Applying k-means clustering to standardized hydro-salinity and landscape variables, four distinct surge classes were identified. A Random Forest classification model achieved an overall accuracy of 93.4% and a cross-validated accuracy of 95.2%. Variable importance analysis indicated that landscape configuration variables, particularly distance to canals, marsh type, basin location, and distance to coastline, were the strongest predictors of surge class. These findings demonstrate that storm surge impacts are fundamentally shaped by hydrologic connectivity and landscape structure, often exceeding the influence of storm intensity alone. This classification framework provides a novel, data-driven tool for anticipating site-specific surge responses and can directly inform wetland vulnerability assessment and coastal restoration prioritization across the Louisiana coastal zone.

Date

2-6-2026

DOI

https://proquest.com/docview/3347819060

First Committee Chair

Jorge VIlla

First Committee Member

Gabriele Morra

Second Committee Member

P. Ioannidi

Third Committee Member

Robert Miller

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