Water Level Analysis – Deal Island & Farm Creek Marsh

This repository contains datasets and analysis code for studying water level patterns, soil saturation, and hydrological dynamics in the Deal Island and Farm Creek Marsh regions. Preprint of this work can be found below: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.09.19.558260v2#:~:text=We%20found%20that%20both%20tidal,marsh%20interior%20500%20m%20away. Author: Man Qi; Date: April 8, 2025 Cite: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15181387

📁 Repository Structure

├── Data/ # Raw and processed datasets ├── Code/ # R scripts and analysis notebooks

├── README.md # This file

DATA OVERVIEW

This repository contains three main datasets located in the Data/ folder.

1. WATER LEVEL TIME SERIES

Filename | Site | Period(s) Covered | Interval | Notes --------------------------|------------------|--------------------------------------------------|-----------|----------------------- 20574344DIGE.xlsx | DIDieback | 2019/5/2–2020/3/4, 2020/10/7–2021/5/21 | 15 min | - 20574343DIGH.xlsx | DIHealthy | 2019/5/2–2020/3/4, 2020/10/7–2021/3/5 | 15 min | - 20292500DIGP.xlsx | DIPond | 2019/5/2–2020/3/4, 2020/10/7–2020/10/19 | 15 min | - 20138781DIGTC.xlsx | DITidalCreek | 2019/5/2–2020/3/4, 2020/3/4–2020/9/29 | 15 min | - 20574347FCMGDC.xlsx | FCMDieback | 2019/5/2–2020/3/5, 2020/10/14–2021/5/28 | 15 min | - 20574349FCMGHC.xlsx | FCMHealthy | 2019/5/2–2020/10/8, 2020/10/14–2021/5/28 | 15 min | - Site4S-FCMGPC.csv | FCMPond | 2017/11/6–2020/4/14 | 15 min | USGS-collected bishop.csv | Bishop Station | 2019/5/2–2021/7/30 | 1 hour | -

Note: FCM pond data are collected by USGS. Water levels are recorded in feet, referenced to NAVD88.

1. WELL INSTALLATION INFO

File: Well info.txt

This file includes the following fields for each well: - WellID - S/N - Welltoptologger (cm) - Welltopelevation2019 (m) - Welllengthabovesoil (cm) - Loggerdepth2019 (cm) - Soilsurfaceelevation2019 (m) - Note - Welltopelevation2020 (m) - Wellheight2020 - Loggerdepth2020 (cm) - Elevation_2020 (m)

This information is used to calculate logger depth and surface elevation relative to a fixed benchmark.

1. FLOOD TOLERANCE DATA

File: flood tolerance extracted from papers.xls

Structure: No. | Inundation | Value | Species | Index | Site | Source ----|------------|-------|--------------------|-----------------------------|------|----------------------------- 1 | 7.9815 | -323 | J. roemerianus | Aboveground biomass change | LOLA | Voss, Christian & Morris (2013) 2 | 24.2556 | -304 | J. roemerianus | Aboveground biomass change | LOLA | Voss, Christian & Morris (2013) 3 | 48.9922 | -216 | J. roemerianus | Aboveground biomass change | LOLA | Voss, Christian & Morris (2013) 4 | 52.7793 | -618 | J. roemerianus | Aboveground biomass change | LOLA | Voss, Christian & Morris (2013)

This file compiles experimental results from literature and is used to assess species-specific responses to inundation stress.

💻 Code

The Code/ folder contains all R scripts in the analysis.

Files include:

• Water level analysis.R – Script to analyze hydrological regime and output figures in the main text and supplements.
• flood tolerance.R – Script to plot the flood tolerance curves of marsh plants