Multidimensional Modeling of the Lower Mississippi River

Abstract

The Mississippi River has major economic, environmental, ecological, and industrial values to the entire United States. At present, the Mississippi River Delta area of coastal Louisiana is deprived of practically all the sediment transported by the river to the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, alternative solutions to recover or re-direct a portion of this massive amount of valuable sediment to benefit the restoration of Louisiana coastal lands are being investigated. These investigations consider the impact of management and restoration projects on the conditions of the river (supply side) and on the surrounding wetland and water bodies (demand side). This paper evaluates the use of a suite of numerical models to aid in the simulation of the bed-material and wash-load components in the Lower Mississippi River. This approach provides information on the river's hydrodynamics and sediment characteristics with large spectra of temporal and special scales. The models serve as viable and efficient management and analysis tools for the Lower Mississippi River. They provide detailed information on the availability of fresh water and sediment for diversion to surrounding wetlands, and determine quantitatively the impact of existing and planned diversion projects on the dynamics of the river. The models developed herein would also provide sediment and water information needed for larger scale models encompassing the Mississippi River Delta and the continental shelf.