Page 28 - aruba-today-20180421

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 21 april 2018
Tracking the river: Mississippi model may help save coast

By REBECCA SANTANA from the roughly 6,000 gal-
Associated Press lons (33,710 liters) of water
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — floating on the model that
Scientists working on new replicate the river, the Gulf
ways to battle the erosion of Mexico and the various
that threatens Louisiana's lakes and bayous along
coastline have a dramatic the coast. Tiny particles of
new tool: a massive rep- plastic injected into the
lica of the lower Mississippi water mimic the sediment
River. coursing through the Mis-
The Louisiana State Uni- sissippi River. And they can
versity's Center for River raise the water level to rep-
Studies is home to the licate rising seas.
newly opened Lower Mis- Officials are hopeful that
sissippi River Physical Mod- lessons learned at the cen-
el, a 10,000-square-foot ter can be shared with
(930-square-meter) repro- other countries and regions
duction of nearly 200 miles struggling with similar prob-
(320 kilometers) of the low- lems as Louisiana.
er Mississippi from the town "An image like this model
of Donaldsonville northwest tells the story in a way that
of New Orleans to the Gulf is way more powerful than
of Mexico. The model will In this March 29, 2018 photo, Rudy Simoneaux, above, engineer manager for the Louisiana Coast- a slide show, than a nu-
help experts study one of al Protection and Restoration Authority, and Joseph McClatchy, coastal resources program spe- merical modeling," said
the most important rivers cialist, walk on a replica of the lower Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, La. Justin R. Ehrenwerth, who
in North America and how Associated Press heads the Water Institute of
sediment from it can be the Gulf , a Baton Rouge-
used to fight coastal ero- or diversions at various lo- diversion affect the river's lines, Simoneaux said. based research organiza-
sion. cations into the levees that flow? How do the diversions When visitors walk into the tion that studies and helps
"Not only can we model keep the Mississippi River in affect the dredging done second floor to look down coastal areas affected by
the flows and the water its course and letting some by the U.S. Army Corps of onto the model, they can problems like rising seas
stages of the water levels in of the sediment in the river Engineers? How do multiple feel the moisture coming and subsidence.q
the Mississippi River, we can into the rapidly eroding diversions along the river
also model or simulate the wetlands to rebuild land. affect each other?
transport or the movement The idea, said Simoneaux, "What you do in one place Volcano in southern
of the Mississippi River sand is to "put the river back has an impact on another,
down the river, and we can to work to rebuild what it and so the idea of looking Japan erupts for 1st
do all that in roughly one once built on its own." at larger-scale impacts or
hour to replicate one year The Delta region of south- larger-scale processes is
son, the LSU professor who over centuries on sediment the potential impacts are time in 250 years
on the river," said Clint Will-
eastern Louisiana was built critical to looking at what
heads the Center for River that washed down the riv- or the unintended conse-
Studies. er. But levees built along quences of projects, and TOKYO (AP) — A volcano in
Louisiana is in a race to the river to prevent flood- so a model of this scale al- southern Japan has erupt-
protect and rebuild its frag- ing mean the sediment ba- lows you to do that," said ed for the first time in 250
ile coastline from decades sically washes into the Gulf. Willson. years, and authorities set
of erosion while also fac- As part of its efforts to study The model was made of up a no-go zone around
ing rising seas from climate the sediment diversions, the high density foam panels the mountain.
change. It's estimated to CPRA created the $18 mil- strong enough for people Mount Io spewed smoke
have lost 2,000 square miles lion model and Center for to walk on. Data about the and ash high into the sky
(5,180 square kilometers) of River Studies, replacing an dimensions and shape of Thursday in its first eruption In this April 19, 2018, photo,
volcanic smoke billows from
coastline since the 1930s, older, smaller river model the Mississippi River and sur- since 1768. Japan's Meteo- Mt. Io, foreground, part of the
according to Rudy Simo- that was decommissioned rounding topography were rological Agency on Friday Kirishima mountain range on
neaux of the state's Coast- in 2009. put into a computer and expanded a no-go zone to Japan’s southern main island
al Protection and Restora- The new model, housed then used to cut the panels. the entire mountain from of Kyushu, taken over Ebino
tion Authority. That's about just a stone's throw from the The panels, combined with previously just around the city, Miyazaki prefecture.
the size of Delaware. actual Mississippi River, is the steel cables and jacks volcano's crater. nearby towns against fall-
To fight back, Louisiana de- designed to help research- underneath, weigh about Explosions have briefly ing volcanic rocks and ash.
veloped a plan that relies ers answer such questions as much as one of the 737 subsided Friday, but offi- The volcano is part of the
in part on slicing channels as: How does opening one jets flown by Southwest Air- cials cautioned residents in Kirishima mountain range
on Japan's southern main
island of Kyushu. The area is
about 1,000 kilometers (620
miles) southwest of Tokyo.
Another volcano nearby
also erupted violently in
March for the first time in
seven years. Japan sits on
the Pacific "Ring of Fire"
and has 110 active volca-
noes.
q