Salinity Trends in Louisiana Estuaries

If long-term trends in the character of the estuarine salinity field are contributing to land-loss in coastal Louisiana, then evidence of the presence of these trends may exist in historical salinity records. Nonparametric tests for the presence of a trend in the time series of various salinity statistics were performed. The results appear to be strongly influenced by climatological variations of decadal scale. Statistically significant trends were found at many stations. Both increasing and decreasing trends occurred with no apparent underlying spatial pattern. The observed changes during the time covered by the available records were generally too small to be lethal to the dominant marsh plants.