17 Nearshore and Estuarine Research: Dynamics and Future Resiliency in the Coastal Zone

This session focuses on drivers of change in coastal environments as well as planning for future resiliency in tidal marshes, mudflats, estuaries, and barrier systems, including human activity impacts, sea level rise, & changing sediment supply.

Monday, 23 March 2026
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
CCC, Room 22/23

Remote Sensing of Salt Marsh Pools: Automated Identification, Trend Analyses, and Restoration Efficacy

Paper number: 17-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:45 AM – 9:05 AM

Authors

Abstract

Salt marshes face a variety of compounding stressors including sea level rise and prior human modifications. While permanently inundated pools on marshes can be a naturally occurring feature, they are also propagated and exacerbated by sea level rise and legacy agricultural infrastructure, such as embankments and abandoned ditch networks, making pools a major concern for salt marsh managers. We created a neural network to automatically identify tens of thousands of salt marsh pools across Massachusetts in high-resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program aerial images using a training and validation dataset of over 4,000 digitized pools. Trajectories of pools and surrounding marsh platform are analyzed with time series of multispectral satellite remote sensing indices (e.g., modified normalized difference water index) from Landsat 5-9 and Sentinel-2, as well as extracted data from historical imagery archives to identify expanding pools and/or marsh degradation statewide and evaluate the efficacy of restoration projects. We compare the abundance and trends of these identified pools with relevant geospatial datasets such as a statewide digitized ditches, tidal ranges, and elevation data. We have transferred these methods to online tools available for practitioners to pinpoint areas of concern, address site-specific restoration challenges, and assess project outcomes, providing a scalable tool for continued marsh monitoring and guiding evidence-based restoration and management strategies.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026NE-411160

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