Tidal wetlands as sources and sinks of carbon in a changing world: Remote Sensing, Measurements & Modeling of Wetland-Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions

Maria A. Tzortziou, CCNY City University of New York/ GSFC-NASA, mtzortziou@ccny.cuny.edu (Presenter)
Elizabeth Ann Canuel, Virginia Inst Marine Science, ecanuel@vims.edu
Patrick J. Neale, SERC, nealep@si.edu
Patrick J. Megonigal, SERC, megonigalp@si.edu
Raleigh Hood, UMCES, rhood@umces.edu
Wen Long, PNNL, wenlong@umces.edu
Kyle McDonald, The City College of New York, kmcdonald2@ccny.cuny.edu
Blake Clark, UMCES, bclark@umces.edu
Amanda knobloch, Virginia Inst Marine Science, alknobloch@vims.edu
Fang Cao, Univeristy of Georgia, fcao@uga.edu
Andrew Peresta, SERC, perestaa@si.edu

Serving as a link between the land and the ocean, tidal wetlands are exposed to a wide variety of anthropogenic and natural stressors. Among our most valuable natural resources, these rich in biodiversity and highly productive ecosystems are hot spots of biogeochemical exchanges and transformations. Despite recent advances in remote sensing observations and modeling of biogeochemical processes in terrestrial and ocean environments, large gaps remain in our understanding of key carbon processes in tidal wetland-estuarine systems at the land-ocean interface. As a result, there are many unknowns regarding the role these ecosystems play in regional and global carbon cycling, and their potential responses and services in a changing climate.

This study addresses this high priority research area by integrating advanced remote sensing observations of wetlands and coastal ocean color with new mechanistic carbon cycling modeling. Specifically, the project aims at addressing three key science objectives: (i) quantify carbon fluxes and exchanges (dissolved, particulate and gaseous CO2 and CH4 components) at the tidal wetland-estuarine-atmosphere interface, and assess the spatial extent of marsh influence on carbon quality along the continuum of wetlands, estuaries and the coastal ocean; (ii) quantify the relative importance of photochemistry as a key transformation process of marsh exported carbon in shallow-water terrestrial-aquatic interfaces, and its interaction with microbial transformations; (iii) assess the role of tidal wetland carbon fluxes and processes across a range of spatial and time scales. Potential influences of natural and anthropogenic pressures on these processes will be assessed under various environmental change scenarios (i.e., extreme flooding, sea-level rise, increased CO2, and nutrient enrichment).

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Theme 2: Landscapes to coasts: understanding Earth system connections   (Mon 1:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Tzortziou, Maria: Tidal Wetlands as Sources and Sinks of Carbon in a Changing world: Remote Sensing, Measurements and Modeling of Wetland-Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions ...details

Poster Location ID: 128