2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 131
LSU Professor Robert Twilley is conducting aerial
research of Louisiana’s river delta system in partnership
with NASA that will be used to help NASA begin
monitoring delta growth worldwide.
“River deltas are the primary mechanism, at least in
this part of the world, that coastal land is built with and
sustained,” LSU professor Mathew Hiatt said. “Sediment
is delivered to the coast via the river channels and the
deposition basically forms the delta.”
River deltas are important for a host of reasons. Over
the course of thousands of years, deltas have formed fertile
farmland, oil and gas reserves, major fisheries, and the
rivers where deltas take shape often become major areas
of commerce. Some of the first cradles of civilization were
formed around river deltas, and now some of the biggest
cities in the world are located around them.
“Deltas are big economic engines,” Twilley said.
Understanding river deltas could help produce solutions
to Louisiana’s wetland loss, since they are the primary
engine by which coastlines replenish the land.
“The rivers have to continually add new sediment
because as sea levels rise if the land doesn’t rise with the sea
level, then all of a sudden that land becomes water again,”
says Twilley.
Twilley has been conducting research around the Wax
Lake River Delta system for around 16 years, looking at it
as an analog for how river systems grow. Wax Lake is a large
body of water in St. Mary Parish that was converted to an
outlet channel to divert water away from the Atchafalaya
River and into the Gulf of Mexico. After many years
of conducting this research on the ground, Twilley was
contacted by NASA.
“NASA said ‘hey, we know about the research y’all are
doing over by Wax Lake and we’ve got some new satellite
sensors that we’re testing that we think can monitor the
growth of deltas around the world. Would you be interested
in helping us calibrate the sensors?’ and I said yes,” Twilley
explained.
NASA is currently testing the sensors, flying them up
to about 30,000 feet above river deltas to analyze them.
Twilley and members of the field teams analyze the river
deltas on the ground and then compare them to the
information that the sensors pick up in order to test their
accuracy.
“The sheer complexity of the project is amazing,” the
forecaster for the project, Professor Paul Miller, said. “Just
the amount of moving pieces and the field teams that
they have just collecting data all coordinated at the same
time, it’s just incredible. Some of those planes can only fly
when it’s completely clear sky conditions, any clouds are a
problem. Some can handle clouds but no precipitation. If
it’s too windy then the field teams can’t be on the surface
when the airplanes fly over so all the stars have to align on
the weather side of things in order for them to execute the
field campaign as planned.”
The sensors that NASA is using to monitor river deltas
are highly sophisticated and must be tested thoroughly
before they are attached to a satellite, which is why they
reached out to LSU.
The research that Twilley and NASA are conducting
will lay the foundation for a deeper understanding of river
deltas across the globe.
“It’s pretty cool to do all of this work on the ground for
years looking at little plots, now all of a sudden with NASA
to think that you can expand that to the whole globe,” said
Twilley. “That gives you a real sense of impact because it’s
not just Louisiana. What we’re learning here in Louisiana
on our delta can be used to understand deltas around the
world. That’s a researcher’s dream.”
131