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Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta

Delta-X

Delta Exchange

The Delta Exchange (Delta-X) mission was a 5-year campaign to study the Mississippi River Delta, which is growing and sinking in different areas.

River deltas and their wetlands are drowning as a result of sea level rise and reduced sediment inputs. The Delta-X mission studied which parts will survive and continue to grow, and which parts will be lost. Delta-X began with airborne and in situ data acquisition and carried through data analysis, model integration, and validation to predict the extent and spatial patterns of future deltaic land loss or gain.

Data products from the 2016 Pre-Delta-X Demonstration Campaign are available. The Spring and Fall 2021 campaigns were completed in April and August 2021, and 2022 validation activities are in progress. New datasets are being added continuously.

Principal Investigator

Marc Simard

Partners

NOAA

Data Centers

ORNL DAAC

Funding Programs

EVS-3
Delta Exchange (Delta-X) graphic identifier.
Study DatesMarch 26, 2021 - Sept. 30, 2023
Season of StudyBoreal fall, boreal spring, boreal summer
RegionAtchafalaya and Terrebonne basins of the Mississippi River Delta
Spatial Bounds

N: 32°N

S: 28°N

W: 93°W

E: 88°W

Focus AreasCarbon Cycle and Ecosystems
Geophysical Concepts

Ecosystems/Biogeochemical Interactions

Land Characteristics

Soil Properties

Scientific Topics
Wetlands
Biomass
Vegetation Structure
Deltas
Rivers/Streams
Sediment
Soil Accretion
PlatformInstrument(s)
Gulfstream IIIUninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR)
Beechcraft B-200 King Air

Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer - Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG)

Air Surface Water and Ocean Topography (AirSWOT)

Campaign Ships

Singlebeam Echo Sounder (SBES)

Spectrometers

Turbidity Sensor

LISST-100X (LISST)

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)

Campaign Field SitesTurbidity Sensor

The following resources provide additional information about the Delta-X campaign.