Synthesising wave attenuation for seagrass: Drag coefficient as a unifying indicator

Abstract

An estimated 100 million people inhabit coastal areas at risk from flooding and erosion due to climate change. Seagrass meadows, like other coastal ecosystems, attenuate waves. Due to inconsistencies in how wave attenuation is measured results cannot be directly compared. We synthesised data from laboratory and field experiments of seagrass-wave attenuation by converting measurements to drag coefficients (C_D). Drag coefficients varied from 0.02-5.12 with C_D¯ = 0.74 for studies conducted in turbulent flow in non-storm conditions. A statistical model suggested that seagrass species affects C_D although the exact mechanism remains unclear. A wave model using the estimated C_D¯ as an input parameter demonstrated that wave attenuation increased with meadow length, shoot density, shoot width and canopy height. Findings can be used to estimate wave attenuation by seagrass, in any given set of conditions.

Keywords: Coastal protection; Drag coefficient; Ecosystem services; Meta-analysis; Seagrass; Wave attenuation.