Time-lapse electrical resistivity and induced polarization monitoring of a simulated ecosystem scale coastal flooding experiment

Accurate estimation of the spatiotemporal variation in soil saturation and salt concentration is valuable for calibrating and evaluating Earth system models as well as detecting important eco-hydrological interactions. Such representative models play a vital role in investigating the stability of ecosystems facing changing hydrological disturbance regimes. Ecosystem-scale field experiments are useful to capture hydrological disturbances and gain deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms driving environmental changes. However, previous studies have not explored using quantitative imaging at a large spatial scale to reproduce breakthrough curves and inform system response and recovery following hydrologic disturbance events. Therefore, in this study, non-invasive geophysical methods were used to capture the spatiotemporal variation in subsurface saturation and salt concentrations during an ecosystem-scale coastal forest flooding experiment.