Despite a severely eroding coast, Louisiana is seeing land growth in a part of the state known as Atchafalaya Bay which is the result of sediment build-up from the nearby river.
While southeastern Louisiana is reportedly losing ground at the rate of a football-field-sized piece of land every hour, new land is forming in a part of the state known as Atchafalaya Bay.
Based on satellite images released by NASA’s Earth Observatory, deltas appear to be growing at the mouths of the Atchafalaya River and Wax Lake Outlet at a combined rate of about one square mile every year.
The reason behind this land extension is river sediment being deposited at an amount and rate that can settle into nearby shallow waters.
Natural disasters have also had an impact on the bay’s growth, as floods bring in extra sediment and hurricanes tend to sweep materials away into deeper waters.
It has been estimated that the two deltas added a total of 13 square miles between 1989 and 1995 but also lost about three-quarters of a square mile from 1999 to 2004.
Despite the gains at Atchafalaya Bay, much more land is expected to be lost elsewhere.
So scientists hope that the expanding delta can provide insights into preserving and building coastal land in the future.
