Raster image of mean tidal range in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey (32-bit GeoTIFF)

Biomass production is positively correlated with mean tidal range in salt marshes along the Atlantic coast of the United States of America. Recent studies support the idea that enhanced stability of the marshes can be attributed to increased vegetative growth due to increased tidal range. This dataset displays the spatial variation mean tidal range (i.e. Mean Range of Tides, MN) in the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBFNWR), which spans over Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Barnegat Bay in New Jersey, USA. MN was based on the calculated difference in height between mean high water (MHW) and mean low water (MLW) using the VDatum (v3.5) software (http://vdatum.noaa.gov/). The input elevation was set to zero in VDatum to calculate the relative difference between the two datums. As part of the Hurricane Sandy Science Plan, the U.S. Geological Survey has started a Wetland Synthesis Project to expand National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards and forecast products to coastal wetlands. The intent is to provide federal, state, and local managers with tools to estimate their vulnerability and ecosystem service potential. For this purpose, the response and resilience of coastal wetlands to physical factors need to be assessed in terms of the ensuing change to their vulnerability and ecosystem services. EBFNWR was selected as a pilot study area.美国大西洋沿岸盐沼的生物量生产与平均潮差（mean tidal range）呈正相关。近期研究表明，潮差增大可促进植被生长，进而提升盐沼系统的稳定性。本数据集呈现了美国新泽西州大湾（Great Bay）、小蛋港（Little Egg Harbor）及巴尼加特湾（Barnegat Bay）区域内埃德温·B·福赛思国家野生动物保护区（Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge，EBFNWR）的平均潮差（即Mean Range of Tides，缩写MN）空间分布特征。MN值基于平均高潮位（mean high water，MHW）与平均低潮位（mean low water，MLW）的高度差计算所得，计算过程使用VDatum（v3.5）软件（访问地址：http://vdatum.noaa.gov/）。在VDatum中，输入高程被设为0，以计算这两个基准面之间的相对差值。 作为‘桑迪飓风科学计划’（Hurricane Sandy Science Plan）的组成部分，美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey）启动了湿地综合项目，旨在将《海岸变化灾害国家评估》（National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards）及其预测产品拓展至海岸湿地领域。该项目旨在为联邦、州级及地方管理人员提供评估海岸湿地脆弱性与生态系统服务潜力的工具。为此，需结合海岸湿地脆弱性与生态系统服务的后续变化，评估其对物理驱动因素的响应与恢复能力。埃德温·B·福赛思国家野生动物保护区（EBFNWR）被选为本次研究的试点区域。