Abstract Detail

Climate Change Solutions from Plant Science: The Interaction at the Interface between Terrestrial Ecosystems and Coastal Ecosystems for Carbon Storage

Herrmann, Maria [1], Najjar, Ramond, Jr. [1].

Fluxes and the Effects of Blue carbon from Coastal Vegetation on Estuarine and Shelf Carbonate budget and implications to Climate Change calculations in the USA.

The coastal zone, which includes tidal wetlands, estuaries, and continental shelf waters, occupies a small fraction of the Earth’s surface but plays a disproportionately large role in the global carbon cycle due to its high rates of primary productivity and related biogeochemical processes. Recognizing the importance of the coastal zone in the global carbon cycle, the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Program and the North American Carbon Program began promoting carbon cycle research and synthesis in the coastal zone with a workshop in 2005 focused on North American Coastal Margins. Following the workshop recommendation, NASA supported funding for regional workshops and initial data synthesis, which led to the development of preliminary coastal carbon budgets for North America. Here we present the most up-to-date carbon budget for coastal waters of Eastern North America that was constructed using a combination of historical data, empirical models, remote-sensing algorithms, process-based numerical models, and a mass balance framework that allows some fluxes to be estimated as residuals. This carbon budget - a work in progress - is a direct outcome of the workshop on Eastern North America and research that was presented at or initiated by the workshop, including studies on the air-sea CO2 flux for shelf waters and the estuarine organic carbon balance. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt at developing a budget for a large coastline from the head of tide to the continental shelf. Some research questions that can be addressed with such a budget include: (1) Is the region a source or sink of atmospheric CO2? (2) How much carbon does the region bury? And (3) What is the metabolic poise of the region? The study domain extends from the southern tip of Florida (United States) to the southern tip of the Scotian Peninsula (Canada) and the Gulf of Mexico from the head of tidal waters to the 500-m isobath. Budgets for three systems are constructed: tidal wetlands, estuarine open waters, and continental shelf waters, which respectively make up 3, 10, and 87% of the study domain’s area.

1 - Pennsylvania State University, Departmen Meterology and Oceanography, 522 Walker Building, University Park, , PA, 16802-5013, USA

Keywords:
USA Carbon budget
estuarine sequestered carbon
Atlantic shelf carbon
tidal vegetation carbon
USA shelf Carbon budget
climate change carbon budget.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY10, Climate Change Solutions from Plant Science: The Interaction at the Interface between Terrestrial Ecosystems and Coastal Ecosystems for Carbon Storage
Location: Chatham Ballroom - B/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: SY10007
Abstract ID:525
Candidate for Awards:None