Changes in Habitat Type (50 yrs)

First page Back Continue Last page Overview Text

Notes:

Now I would like to talk a little bit about changes in habitat type over a 50-year period, so long term. Again, on this side we have the No project, and on this side, the BX-6 alternative. And in the colors that you are seeing here, the yellow is mudflat, the orangey color is shallow bay, which is defined as from the mudflat to the 6-meter, as defined by the Goals Report. The green area is deep bay, which is greater than 6 meters, and the blue are the channel, which is also considered deep Bay. I am going to run the movie on the No Project side first [movie not available]. This is again over 50 years and what we see is that the mudflat behind the existing runways here is increased. We have seen some decrease in the deep bay and some increase in the shallow areas. Now I am going to run BX-6. What we see is similar patterns here in the deep and shallow bay. What we also see though is that the mudflat here did not grow as much. And the reason for that is, if you remember these circulations patterns, as the currents come back here, they start to drop their sediment. And when they drop their sediment here, although they are increasing the sedimentation in that area, we are not changing the habitat type as defined by the mudflat to the 6 meters. We also see some increased erosion here at the tips, which changes it from shallow bay to deep bay.