Laboratory data linking the reconfiguration of and drag on individual plants to the velocity structure and wave dissipation over a meadow of salt marshes under waves with and without current

Zhang, Xiaoxia; Nepf, Heidi

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-372

Preprints

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-372

Preprints

25 Oct 2023

| 25 Oct 2023

Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal ESSD.

Laboratory data linking the reconfiguration of and drag on individual plants to the velocity structure and wave dissipation over a meadow of salt marshes under waves with and without current

Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf

Abstract. Salt marshes provide valuable ecosystem services, which are influenced by their interaction with current and waves. On the one hand, current and waves exert hydrodynamic force on salt marsh plants, which shapes the distribution of species within the marsh. On the other hand, the resistance produced by the plants can shape the flow structure, turbulent intensity, and the wave dissipation over the canopy. Because marsh plants are flexible structures, their reconfiguration modifies the drag felt by the plants and the flow. While several previous studies have considered the flexibility of the stem, few studies have considered the leaf component, which has been shown to contribute the majority of plant resistance. This paper reports a unique dataset that includes laboratory measurements of both the force on an individual plant and the flow structure and wave energy dissipation over a meadow of plants. In the individual plant experiment, the motion of the plant and plant drag, free surface displacement and velocity profile were measured. The individual plant experiments considered both a live marsh plant (Spartina alterniflora) and a mimic consisting of ten leaves attached to a central stem. For the meadow experiment, velocity profiles were measured both upstream and within the meadow, and free surface displacement was measured along the model marsh plant meadow with high spatial and temporal resolution. These experiments used five water depths (covering both submerged and emergent conditions), three wave periods (from long wave to short waves), seven wave heights (from linear to nonlinear waves), six current conditions (including pure current, pure wave, and combined current and waves). In summary, there are 102 individual plant tests and 58 meadow tests. The drag, free surface displacement, and velocity are reported in SMCW.mat file including the raw data, the phase average, and statistic values. The link to the plant motion videos is also provided. This dataset provides high quality measurements that can be used to develop and validate models of plant motion, hydrodynamic drag on individual plants, vegetation-generated turbulence, the evolution of flow structure through a meadow, and the transformation and dissipation of waves over natural salt marshes. The dataset is available from figshare with detailed instructions for reuse (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24117144; Zhang and Nepf, 2023a).

Received: 12 Sep 2023 – Discussion started: 25 Oct 2023

Download & links

Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf

Status: open (until 30 Dec 2023)

Post a comment Subscribe to comment alert

RC1: 'Comment on essd-2023-372', Francesco Paladini de Mendoza, 28 Nov 2023 reply

The manuscript by Zhang and Nepf provides an overview of the results of laboratory experiments on the effect of the vegetation typical of salt marshes on the attenuation of waves and currents. The results reported are from several experiments conducted in recent years and already published in the recent 2021 and 2022 papers, but results of new, never before published experiments are also reported.
I believe that the data produced and the experiments conducted are of excellent quality and that the importance of this dataset is of absolute value to the international scientific community. The impact of vegetation on coastal dynamics is a key issue from both engineering and ecological perspective. However, I believe that the manuscript needs to be revised, especially with regard to some technical aspects of both the paper and the dataset. These changes are necessary to bring the work more in line with the ESSD policy and to make it more usable for the international scientific community.
Specifically, I propose the following changes:
In the introduction, in line 97, the authors mention Spartina alterniflora, which is used as a model plant because it is a typical species of salt marshes. I think it is necessary to add to this by emphasising the distribution and importance of this species in global salt marshes. In this way, the experiments can clearly take on global significance.
From line 100 to the end of the introduction, the details of the experiments are given, but I think that in this section it is necessary to talk only about the general aspects (only the total number of experiments and the two main categories of experiments - IE and ME, living plants and models) and move the rest of the description to the first section on the method (2).
In sections 2.1 and 2.2, the detailed description of the experiments is too difficult to follow in this way. I think it would be better to create a table (similar to the tables in the readme.pdf document in the web repository) describing each test case to make the text clearer, more concise and easier to follow.
In line 135, the quote refers to Zhang and Nepf, 2021 a or b?
Line 157 better specifies which are the six tested wave amplitudes
In line 159 the authors mention 28 new, unreported cases. In my opinion, the authors should emphasise in the paper what these cases are and what new and never before published results they have obtained. Indeed, it is difficult to understand in the paper whether there are differences between the results of these new cases compared to the already published cases, or otherwise specify their contribution to the results.
A key issue is the accessibility, reusability and interoperability of the dataset in its current format.
Apart from the videos of the Flume experiments, which I think are perfect in this form, the data results in *,mat cannot be made accessible without Matlab, and this is an important limitation for three key points of the FAIR principle.
The accessibility, reusability and interoperability of the dataset as currently not guaranteed.
In my opinion, the NetCDF file with metadata is the best format for organising and distributing data, as it ensures accessibility and interoperability and is an internationally recognised format. In addition, the accompanying metadata enables the best understanding of the data contained, which ensures reusability. Authors can follow a generic file structure categorised into General Attributes, Dimensions, Variables and Attribute Variables.
This format is particularly used in oceanographic data archives, for which there are known standards (Es Oceansite and SeaDataNet) to standardise data archives worldwide.
Even though it is laboratory data, it is data that provides important information related to oceanography and coastal dynamics. Therefore, I think it is appropriate to refer to a common format along the lines of the formats mentioned above, where variables and datasets are accompanied by appropriate metadata in which we specify for each variable: where, when, how (sampling method, instrument types, type of experiment, test case), who, what (details of processing applied, algorithms used to calculate derived parameters).
I have not found any reference examples for this type of data, but authors can generally follow one of the most common reference formats for the creation of NETCDF files and adapt them to this data by providing the necessary information useful for a better conformity of the data with the FAIR principles.
An example of the structure of a NETCDF file can be found in the attached file

Reply

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-372-RC1

Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf

Data sets

A dataset on the hydrodynamic force on individual salt marsh plants and the flow structure and wave dissipation over a meadow of plants under waves with and without current Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24117144

Video supplement

Salt marsh dynamic motion videos under waves with and without current Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24117324

Xiaoxia Zhang and Heidi Nepf

Viewed

Total article views: 156 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)

HTML	PDF	XML	Total	BibTeX	EndNote
124	26	6	156	2	4

HTML: 124
PDF: 26
XML: 6
Total: 156
BibTeX: 2
EndNote: 4

Views and downloads (calculated since 25 Oct 2023)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Oct 2023	76	18	6	100
Nov 2023	48	8	0	56

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 25 Oct 2023)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Oct 2023	76	18	6	100
Nov 2023	48	8	0	56

Viewed (geographical distribution)

Total article views: 152 (including HTML, PDF, and XML) Thereof 152 with geography defined and 0 with unknown origin.

Country	#	Views	%

Latest update: 01 Dec 2023

Short summary

This study measured the wave-induced plant drag, flow structure, turbulent intensity, and wave energy attenuation in the presence of salt marsh. We showed that the leaves contribute to most of the total plant drag and wave dissipation. Plant resistance significantly reshapes velocity profile and enhance turbulence intensity. Adding current obviously impact the plants' wave decay capacity. The dataset can be reused to develop and calibrate marsh-flow theoretical and numerical models.


Total:	0
HTML:	0
PDF:	0
XML:	0