Deciphering drivers and variability in salt marsh lateral carbon export

Project Title: Deciphering drivers and variability in salt marsh lateral carbon export

Duration: Project duration 8/1/2023 – 7/31/2026; field project duration April 2025 – August 2025

Funding Source(s): NSF

Principal Investigator(s):

Lead Investigator / onsite-contact: Joseph Tamborski, Old Dominion University

Project Description: Tidal wetlands remove large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some portion of this carbon is buried as soil, often referred to as blue carbon. However, another portion of this carbon is exported to the coastal ocean through tidal flushing of wetland sediments. The amount of carbon exported from tidal marshes is not well known. This project investigates the processes that control carbon exports from salt marshes using state-of-the-art methods. The overarching goal of this study is to develop the first predictive model of carbon exports. This model will provide a tool for predicting future changes in coastal carbon budgets with continued sea level rise. Inclusion of lateral carbon exports as a blue carbon sink would greatly increase the inventory of tidal wetland carbon sinks and add to the suite of ecosystem services that are preserved through conservation and restoration of wetlands. This project will investigate the role of marsh platform inundation frequency and flooding duration, as determined by elevation within the tidal frame, as a driver and predictor of lateral C and TA exports. Our team aims to measure dissolved carbon exports from tidal salt marshes at different locations in New England.