A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
Blue Carbon
The USGS conducts a wide range of research on blue carbon—carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems—to help federal, state, and local government entities, as well as private organizations, make decisions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation, wetland restoration, land management, and coastal resilience.
The USGS conducts a wide range of research on blue carbon—carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems—to help federal, state, and local government entities, as well as private organizations, make decisions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation, wetland restoration, land management, and coastal resilience.
Blue carbon refers to carbon captured by the world’s coastal and ocean ecosystems.
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Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas that warms our planet, causing climate change. Our coastal ecosystems naturally help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through photosynthesis and by capturing carbon from inflowing water and storing carbon from accumulated organic material. This is collectively known as carbon sequestration.
As carbon dioxide continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, advancing blue carbon management as a nature-based solution to climate change has become increasingly important.
The USGS is leading several projects regarding carbon sequestration along our Nation’s coasts, primarily in coastal wetlands such as tidal freshwater wetlands, salt marshes and mangroves, and in the coastal ocean. Our research can help coastal managers, planners, and other stakeholders, including our U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration partners, better understand blue carbon and make choices that will enhance climate change mitigation capabilities of our coasts and ocean.
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USGS Blue Carbon Research
USGS Blue Carbon Research
We study how carbon sequestration and storage in tidal forested wetlands and marshes, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and other coastal wetlands are affected by land use management, climate change, sea-level rise, invasive aquatic vegetation, hurricanes and major storms, and other natural hazards.
The USGS collects, analyzes, and synthesizes blue carbon data in both degraded and healthy coastal wetlands to improve estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration on a range of timescales (decadal to millennial). We also identify opportunities to reduce these emissions and increase carbon sequestration, on local, regional, and national scales.
We use remote sensing techniques to detect land cover change across the United States and site-specific studies to help validate the large spatial scale data and modeling. Wetland loss can lead to soil carbon loss and increased methane emissions, while healthy wetlands will continue to accumulate carbon in their soils over time.
USGS scientists also collect wetland cores to examine how past land-use change, extreme climate events, and sea-level rise impact carbon sequestration to inform decision making aimed at enhancing future resilience.
This work helps the USGS and our stakeholders understand how land use management, such as coastal development, construction of dikes and levees, ditching and draining, or river dredging, can impact blue carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, environmental changes, such as more intense hurricanes and atmospheric rivers, increased erosion, and sea-level rise, also affect coastal wetlands and their ability to store carbon. Understanding the complex effects of nature and land management are critical for managers and policymakers making decisions about wetland restoration, urban planning, and ecosystem resilience and for those looking for ways and opportunities to enhance carbon sequestration through nature-based solutions.
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The U.S. Coastal Wetland Geospatial Collection
The U.S. Coastal Wetland Geospatial Collection
A collective effort to assess the status of coastal wetlands.
A collective effort to assess the status of coastal wetlands.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
We research approaches to enhance export of carbon from tidal wetlands to the ocean.
The majority of carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere in tidal wetlands is not stored within the ecosystem, but instead is carried out to estuaries and the coastal ocean due to tidal inundation and drainage. Depending on the conditions, a significant portion of the exported carbon is in the form of bicarbonate alkalinity—a form of carbon that resides in the ocean for thousands of years, and therefore represents long term carbon sequestration from the atmosphere. The USGS has innovated methods to measure this flux and is currently developing a model for national monitoring of this form of sequestration.
The USGS also studies whether adding the mineral olivine, or other alkaline minerals (minerals that can neutralize acids), to coastal wetland soils may bring additional carbon to ocean water and assist in mitigating acidification. Olivine is known to naturally absorb carbon dioxide, and scientists are adding it to coasts in the form of light green sand. The studies focus on how olivine changes the chemistry of seawater and if the added alkalinity allows seawater to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or carbon released from a wetland.
We help partners develop climate change adaptation strategies.
Working with land management agencies and other partners, the USGS assesses opportunities for soil carbon sequestration and methane emissions reduction and integrates wetlands within programs for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
When coastal wetlands are degraded, often due to human land use change and the effects of climate change, including sea-level rise and intensifying storms, their ability to provide ecosystem services, such as sequestering and storing carbon, diminishes. In fact, a degraded ecosystem can become a source of potent greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, or nitrous oxide to the atmosphere. Restoring degraded coastal ecosystems is a realistic, actionable method to reduce emissions and enhance carbon sequestration. USGS blue carbon research helps coastal managers and planners make conservation, restoration, and land management decisions that can help safeguard ecosystem service capabilities, such as the ability to sequester and store carbon on timescales relevant for management.
Action plans created with partners aim to enhance coastal resilience and achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. For these plans, USGS scientists developed models to compare how different land use management actions would affect carbon sequestration and economic value over a broad spatial scale. The models can help managers make land use decisions that help them meet their climate change mitigation goals.
A USGS and USFWS team working at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas to help managers understand impacts of extreme climate events on coastal marsh dieback. Laurenzano, Laura Feher, Camille Stagg, Jena Moon, and Michael Osland. Taken via camera timer by the team, 10/3/2019.
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Tidal Freshwater Ecosystems, Salt Marshes, Mangrove Forests, and Seagrass Meadows
Tidal Freshwater Ecosystems, Salt Marshes, Mangrove Forests, and Seagrass Meadows
More information on the ecosystems in which we work.
Coastal and marine ecosystems are “blue carbon” ecosystems because of their ability to sequester and store carbon. Though blue carbon ecosystems have a relatively small global extent, they are disproportionately important in sequestering carbon compared to more inland, or terrestrial, ecosystems. In fact, they are such powerful carbon sinks that they can store carbon that has accumulated over hundreds to thousands of years. These dynamic systems also provide other ecosystem services, like protection from storms, flooding, and erosion, habitat for important fisheries and bird species, and numerous recreational activities.
Tidal Freshwater Systems
Tidal Freshwater Systems
Tidal freshwater forests and marshes are the most inland reaches of blue carbon ecosystems. The water in these systems is not salty. Freshwater levels rise and fall daily with the tides. The carbon dynamics in tidal freshwater systems is complex because without the salt in the water, there is more methane produced. Tidal freshwater wetlands do however remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and therefore their net impact on climate is more complicated to calculate. The U.S. has considerable tidal freshwater wetland area and thus these ecosystems are important to include and consider in management.
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Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Salt Marshes
Salt Marshes
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are inundated by salt water from the tides. They are found worldwide, particularly in middle to high latitudes, and protect shorelines from erosion, reduce flooding, and provide habitat and nursery for many fisheries and bird species.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove forests are communities of tropical/ subtropical trees and shrubs that grow within the intertidal zone. These trees cannot withstand freezing temperatures and live in areas of low-oxygen soil. These forests can often be recognized by their dense tangle of roots that oxygenate the soil and prop the trees above the water allowing them to withstand the daily rise and fall of the tides. Dense roots also provide shelter for fish and other organisms, slow down movement of tidal waters, and protect the coast from storm surges, currents, waves, and tides.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Seagrass Beds
Seagrass Beds
Seagrasses are marine plants with long, green blades that grow in shallow salty and brackish water around the world. They are very productive ecosystems that can grow in large, dense underwater meadows. Seagrass beds also provide habitat for economically important aquatic species, regulate water quality, and stabilize sediment, among other ecosystem services.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Coastal Oceans
Coastal Oceans
Blue carbon ecosystems are not limited to wetlands and other inland marine systems. Landscapes within the open ocean can also provide areas for carbon storage and sequestration. Areas from the shoreline to the outer edge of the continental margin have the potential to store carbon within sea floor sediments. In addition, animals in these coastal ocean ecosystems are a part of the carbon cycle. For example, algae and phytoplankton sequester carbon through photosynthesis and other organisms provide organic carbon stores.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Science
Mangrove Forest Responses to Sea-Level Rise in the Greater Everglades
USGS researchers will utilize long-term soil elevation change data to help advance understanding of soil elevation dynamics and ecological transformations due to climate change within coastal wetlands of the Greater Everglades.
Sea level Rise and Carbon Cycle Processes in Managed Coastal Wetlands
The U.S. Geological Survey is working to inform decision makers at Federal land management agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, state government agencies and private entities, on the role of coastal wetlands in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This includes assessing opportunities for ecosystem restoration to enhance soil carbon sequestration...
Delta Wetlands and Resilience: Blue Carbon and Marsh Accretion
Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, with manageable and atmospherically significant carbon stocks and fluxes. The tidal marshes and scrub-shrub wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California are examples of BCEs. The Delta is a 2,400 square kilometer tidal freshwater region located at the landward end of the...
Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and
Wetland Carbon Working Group: Improving Methodologies and Estimates of Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Flux in Wetlands
WARC researchers are working to quantify the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover change on greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.
Multimedia
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
Coastal Ecosystems
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
Coastal Wetlands
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal Marsh in Louisiana
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
sUAS Lidar Training
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
USGS and partners collect a soil core in Massachusetts
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
Biological Carbon Sequestration
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Geologic Carbon Sequestration
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Mangrove Forest Responses to Sea-Level Rise in the Greater Everglades
USGS researchers will utilize long-term soil elevation change data to help advance understanding of soil elevation dynamics and ecological transformations due to climate change within coastal wetlands of the Greater Everglades.
Sea level Rise and Carbon Cycle Processes in Managed Coastal Wetlands
The U.S. Geological Survey is working to inform decision makers at Federal land management agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, state government agencies and private entities, on the role of coastal wetlands in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This includes assessing opportunities for ecosystem restoration to enhance soil carbon sequestration...
Delta Wetlands and Resilience: Blue Carbon and Marsh Accretion
Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, with manageable and atmospherically significant carbon stocks and fluxes. The tidal marshes and scrub-shrub wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California are examples of BCEs. The Delta is a 2,400 square kilometer tidal freshwater region located at the landward end of the...
Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and
Wetland Carbon Working Group: Improving Methodologies and Estimates of Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Flux in Wetlands
WARC researchers are working to quantify the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover change on greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.
USGS Blue Carbon Projects
Together with partner organizations, the USGS is involved in data collection, analysis, and synthesis to improve estimates of coastal wetland carbon fluxes. This research will help improve science and data availability across a wide range of topics.
The Response of Coastal Wetlands to Sea-level Rise: Understanding how Macroscale Drivers Influence Local Processes and Feedbacks
The purpose of this work is to advance our understanding of how coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise (SLR) within the conterminous United States are likely to vary as a function of local, regional, and macroscale drivers, including climate. Based on our interactions with managers and decision makers, as well as our knowledge of the current state of the science, we propose to: (a) conduct a...
Critical Coastal Habitats: Sustainability, Restoration and Forecasting
USGS WARC scientists are monitoring both the long- and short-term effects of coastal restoration efforts on ecosystem health in coastal habitats of Louisiana’s Barataria Basin.
Seagrass Vulnerability to Environmental Conditions Under Changing Temperature Regimes
Seagrasses are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet. Water quality degradation and direct human disturbance have caused loss of nearly a third of the seagrass habitat worldwide. These threats are exacerbated by stresses associated with a changing global climate. Predicting how seagrass distribution, abundance, and species composition will change in response to increased temperature...
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are coastal transition zones where freshwater rivers meet tidal seawater. As sea levels rise, tidal forces move saltier water farther upstream, extending into freshwater wetland areas. Human changes to the surrounding landscape may amplify the effects of this tidal extension, impacting the resiliency and function of the upper estuarine wetlands. One visible...
Wetlands in the Quaternary
Wetlands accumulate organic-rich sediment or peat stratigraphically, making them great archives of past environmental change. Wetlands also act as hydrologic buffers on the landscape and are important to global biogeochemical cycling. This project uses wetland archives from a range of environments to better understand how vegetation, hydrology, and hydroclimate has changed on decadal to multi...
NASA-USGS National Blue Carbon Monitoring System
The NASA-USGS National Blue Carbon Monitoring System project will evaluate the relative uncertainty of iterative modeling approaches to estimate coastal wetland (marsh and mangrove) C stocks and fluxes based on changes in wetland distributions, using nationally available datasets (Landsat) and as well as finer scale satellite and field derived data in six sentinel sites.
Filter Total Items: 24
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
Coastal Ecosystems
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
Coastal Wetlands
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal Marsh in Louisiana
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
sUAS Lidar Training
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
USGS and partners collect a soil core in Massachusetts
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
Biological Carbon Sequestration
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Geologic Carbon Sequestration
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Eelgrass animation
A short underwater animation of an eelgrass bed and how it moves in the water current, with a crab hanging onto the blades.
A short underwater animation of an eelgrass bed and how it moves in the water current, with a crab hanging onto the blades.
USGS and USFWS Scientists at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
A USGS/USFWS team working at a coastal marsh site near a surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) station at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Left to right, Tiffany Lane, Claudia Laurenzano, Laura Feher, Camille Stagg, Jena Moon, and Michael Osland. Taken via camera timer by the team, 10/3/2019.
A USGS/USFWS team working at a coastal marsh site near a surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) station at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Left to right, Tiffany Lane, Claudia Laurenzano, Laura Feher, Camille Stagg, Jena Moon, and Michael Osland. Taken via camera timer by the team, 10/3/2019.
Aerial photo of estuary
Aerial view of a gas flux tower in Great Barnstable Marsh in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Aerial view of a gas flux tower in Great Barnstable Marsh in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
UAS imagery collected at Plum Island
The AIM (Aerial Imaging and Mapping group) collected UAS imagery for scientists at The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) from the Plum Island estuary in Rowley MA. Inke Forbrich from MBL will lead the analysis looking at the reflectance index NDVI for vegetation surrounding a gas flux tower installed in t
The AIM (Aerial Imaging and Mapping group) collected UAS imagery for scientists at The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) from the Plum Island estuary in Rowley MA. Inke Forbrich from MBL will lead the analysis looking at the reflectance index NDVI for vegetation surrounding a gas flux tower installed in t
Eelgrass as fish habitat
Eelgrass provides critical habitat for many fish species, including these Atlantic silversides at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass provides critical habitat for many fish species, including these Atlantic silversides at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass: A Habitat At Risk
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) forms extensive meadows in low intertidal and shallow subtidal areas of estuaries and embayments along the Northwest Atlantic coast. Eelgrass meadows are noted as critical habitat for many recreational and commercial fish species as well as small forage fish.
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) forms extensive meadows in low intertidal and shallow subtidal areas of estuaries and embayments along the Northwest Atlantic coast. Eelgrass meadows are noted as critical habitat for many recreational and commercial fish species as well as small forage fish.
Underwater eelgrass
Eelgrass is highly productive in Pleasant Bay at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass is highly productive in Pleasant Bay at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass Survey in Alaska
Carol Damberg (USFWS) conducting survey of eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2015.
Carol Damberg (USFWS) conducting survey of eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2015.
Mangrove forest, Rhizophora mangle tunnel, Florida
Mangrove forest, Rhizophora mangle tunnel, Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, Florida.
Mangrove forest, Rhizophora mangle tunnel, Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, Florida.
Salt Marshes at Chincoteague Island
Salt marshes at Chincoteague Island. The salt marshes that make up Chincoteague Island are important habitat for migrating waterfowl. In addition, they serve an important role in protecting inland ecosystems and communities from oceanic storms.
Salt marshes at Chincoteague Island. The salt marshes that make up Chincoteague Island are important habitat for migrating waterfowl. In addition, they serve an important role in protecting inland ecosystems and communities from oceanic storms.
Nisqually Delta eelgrass
Close-up image of Nisqually Delta eelgrass.
Close-up image of Nisqually Delta eelgrass.
Eelgrass bed
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
The USGS conducts a wide range of research on blue carbon—carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems—to help federal, state, and local government entities, as well as private organizations, make decisions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation, wetland restoration, land management, and coastal resilience.
The USGS conducts a wide range of research on blue carbon—carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems—to help federal, state, and local government entities, as well as private organizations, make decisions regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation, wetland restoration, land management, and coastal resilience.
Blue carbon refers to carbon captured by the world’s coastal and ocean ecosystems.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas that warms our planet, causing climate change. Our coastal ecosystems naturally help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through photosynthesis and by capturing carbon from inflowing water and storing carbon from accumulated organic material. This is collectively known as carbon sequestration.
As carbon dioxide continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, advancing blue carbon management as a nature-based solution to climate change has become increasingly important.
The USGS is leading several projects regarding carbon sequestration along our Nation’s coasts, primarily in coastal wetlands such as tidal freshwater wetlands, salt marshes and mangroves, and in the coastal ocean. Our research can help coastal managers, planners, and other stakeholders, including our U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration partners, better understand blue carbon and make choices that will enhance climate change mitigation capabilities of our coasts and ocean.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
USGS Blue Carbon Research
USGS Blue Carbon Research
We study how carbon sequestration and storage in tidal forested wetlands and marshes, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and other coastal wetlands are affected by land use management, climate change, sea-level rise, invasive aquatic vegetation, hurricanes and major storms, and other natural hazards.
The USGS collects, analyzes, and synthesizes blue carbon data in both degraded and healthy coastal wetlands to improve estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration on a range of timescales (decadal to millennial). We also identify opportunities to reduce these emissions and increase carbon sequestration, on local, regional, and national scales.
We use remote sensing techniques to detect land cover change across the United States and site-specific studies to help validate the large spatial scale data and modeling. Wetland loss can lead to soil carbon loss and increased methane emissions, while healthy wetlands will continue to accumulate carbon in their soils over time.
USGS scientists also collect wetland cores to examine how past land-use change, extreme climate events, and sea-level rise impact carbon sequestration to inform decision making aimed at enhancing future resilience.
This work helps the USGS and our stakeholders understand how land use management, such as coastal development, construction of dikes and levees, ditching and draining, or river dredging, can impact blue carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, environmental changes, such as more intense hurricanes and atmospheric rivers, increased erosion, and sea-level rise, also affect coastal wetlands and their ability to store carbon. Understanding the complex effects of nature and land management are critical for managers and policymakers making decisions about wetland restoration, urban planning, and ecosystem resilience and for those looking for ways and opportunities to enhance carbon sequestration through nature-based solutions.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
The U.S. Coastal Wetland Geospatial Collection
The U.S. Coastal Wetland Geospatial Collection
A collective effort to assess the status of coastal wetlands.
A collective effort to assess the status of coastal wetlands.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
We research approaches to enhance export of carbon from tidal wetlands to the ocean.
The majority of carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere in tidal wetlands is not stored within the ecosystem, but instead is carried out to estuaries and the coastal ocean due to tidal inundation and drainage. Depending on the conditions, a significant portion of the exported carbon is in the form of bicarbonate alkalinity—a form of carbon that resides in the ocean for thousands of years, and therefore represents long term carbon sequestration from the atmosphere. The USGS has innovated methods to measure this flux and is currently developing a model for national monitoring of this form of sequestration.
The USGS also studies whether adding the mineral olivine, or other alkaline minerals (minerals that can neutralize acids), to coastal wetland soils may bring additional carbon to ocean water and assist in mitigating acidification. Olivine is known to naturally absorb carbon dioxide, and scientists are adding it to coasts in the form of light green sand. The studies focus on how olivine changes the chemistry of seawater and if the added alkalinity allows seawater to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or carbon released from a wetland.
We help partners develop climate change adaptation strategies.
Working with land management agencies and other partners, the USGS assesses opportunities for soil carbon sequestration and methane emissions reduction and integrates wetlands within programs for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
When coastal wetlands are degraded, often due to human land use change and the effects of climate change, including sea-level rise and intensifying storms, their ability to provide ecosystem services, such as sequestering and storing carbon, diminishes. In fact, a degraded ecosystem can become a source of potent greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, or nitrous oxide to the atmosphere. Restoring degraded coastal ecosystems is a realistic, actionable method to reduce emissions and enhance carbon sequestration. USGS blue carbon research helps coastal managers and planners make conservation, restoration, and land management decisions that can help safeguard ecosystem service capabilities, such as the ability to sequester and store carbon on timescales relevant for management.
Action plans created with partners aim to enhance coastal resilience and achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. For these plans, USGS scientists developed models to compare how different land use management actions would affect carbon sequestration and economic value over a broad spatial scale. The models can help managers make land use decisions that help them meet their climate change mitigation goals.
A USGS and USFWS team working at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas to help managers understand impacts of extreme climate events on coastal marsh dieback. Laurenzano, Laura Feher, Camille Stagg, Jena Moon, and Michael Osland. Taken via camera timer by the team, 10/3/2019.
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Tidal Freshwater Ecosystems, Salt Marshes, Mangrove Forests, and Seagrass Meadows
Tidal Freshwater Ecosystems, Salt Marshes, Mangrove Forests, and Seagrass Meadows
More information on the ecosystems in which we work.
Coastal and marine ecosystems are “blue carbon” ecosystems because of their ability to sequester and store carbon. Though blue carbon ecosystems have a relatively small global extent, they are disproportionately important in sequestering carbon compared to more inland, or terrestrial, ecosystems. In fact, they are such powerful carbon sinks that they can store carbon that has accumulated over hundreds to thousands of years. These dynamic systems also provide other ecosystem services, like protection from storms, flooding, and erosion, habitat for important fisheries and bird species, and numerous recreational activities.
Tidal Freshwater Systems
Tidal Freshwater Systems
Tidal freshwater forests and marshes are the most inland reaches of blue carbon ecosystems. The water in these systems is not salty. Freshwater levels rise and fall daily with the tides. The carbon dynamics in tidal freshwater systems is complex because without the salt in the water, there is more methane produced. Tidal freshwater wetlands do however remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and therefore their net impact on climate is more complicated to calculate. The U.S. has considerable tidal freshwater wetland area and thus these ecosystems are important to include and consider in management.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Salt Marshes
Salt Marshes
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are inundated by salt water from the tides. They are found worldwide, particularly in middle to high latitudes, and protect shorelines from erosion, reduce flooding, and provide habitat and nursery for many fisheries and bird species.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove Forests
Mangrove forests are communities of tropical/ subtropical trees and shrubs that grow within the intertidal zone. These trees cannot withstand freezing temperatures and live in areas of low-oxygen soil. These forests can often be recognized by their dense tangle of roots that oxygenate the soil and prop the trees above the water allowing them to withstand the daily rise and fall of the tides. Dense roots also provide shelter for fish and other organisms, slow down movement of tidal waters, and protect the coast from storm surges, currents, waves, and tides.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Seagrass Beds
Seagrass Beds
Seagrasses are marine plants with long, green blades that grow in shallow salty and brackish water around the world. They are very productive ecosystems that can grow in large, dense underwater meadows. Seagrass beds also provide habitat for economically important aquatic species, regulate water quality, and stabilize sediment, among other ecosystem services.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Coastal Oceans
Coastal Oceans
Blue carbon ecosystems are not limited to wetlands and other inland marine systems. Landscapes within the open ocean can also provide areas for carbon storage and sequestration. Areas from the shoreline to the outer edge of the continental margin have the potential to store carbon within sea floor sediments. In addition, animals in these coastal ocean ecosystems are a part of the carbon cycle. For example, algae and phytoplankton sequester carbon through photosynthesis and other organisms provide organic carbon stores.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Science
Mangrove Forest Responses to Sea-Level Rise in the Greater Everglades
USGS researchers will utilize long-term soil elevation change data to help advance understanding of soil elevation dynamics and ecological transformations due to climate change within coastal wetlands of the Greater Everglades.
Sea level Rise and Carbon Cycle Processes in Managed Coastal Wetlands
The U.S. Geological Survey is working to inform decision makers at Federal land management agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, state government agencies and private entities, on the role of coastal wetlands in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This includes assessing opportunities for ecosystem restoration to enhance soil carbon sequestration...
Delta Wetlands and Resilience: Blue Carbon and Marsh Accretion
Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, with manageable and atmospherically significant carbon stocks and fluxes. The tidal marshes and scrub-shrub wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California are examples of BCEs. The Delta is a 2,400 square kilometer tidal freshwater region located at the landward end of the...
Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and
Wetland Carbon Working Group: Improving Methodologies and Estimates of Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Flux in Wetlands
WARC researchers are working to quantify the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover change on greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.
Multimedia
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
Coastal Ecosystems
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
Coastal Wetlands
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal Marsh in Louisiana
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
sUAS Lidar Training
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
USGS and partners collect a soil core in Massachusetts
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
Biological Carbon Sequestration
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Geologic Carbon Sequestration
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Mangrove Forest Responses to Sea-Level Rise in the Greater Everglades
USGS researchers will utilize long-term soil elevation change data to help advance understanding of soil elevation dynamics and ecological transformations due to climate change within coastal wetlands of the Greater Everglades.
Sea level Rise and Carbon Cycle Processes in Managed Coastal Wetlands
The U.S. Geological Survey is working to inform decision makers at Federal land management agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, state government agencies and private entities, on the role of coastal wetlands in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This includes assessing opportunities for ecosystem restoration to enhance soil carbon sequestration...
Delta Wetlands and Resilience: Blue Carbon and Marsh Accretion
Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) are coastal ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses, with manageable and atmospherically significant carbon stocks and fluxes. The tidal marshes and scrub-shrub wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) of California are examples of BCEs. The Delta is a 2,400 square kilometer tidal freshwater region located at the landward end of the...
Developing a Decision Support Tool to Inform Louisiana’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
In 2020, Governor Edwards of Louisiana issued two executive orders: establishing the Climate Initiatives Task Force to develop the state’s first ever Climate Action Plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to enhance coastal resilience in the state. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and natural lands are of vital importance not just for hurricane protection, health and wellbeing, and
Wetland Carbon Working Group: Improving Methodologies and Estimates of Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Flux in Wetlands
WARC researchers are working to quantify the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover change on greenhouse gas emissions and reductions.
USGS Blue Carbon Projects
Together with partner organizations, the USGS is involved in data collection, analysis, and synthesis to improve estimates of coastal wetland carbon fluxes. This research will help improve science and data availability across a wide range of topics.
The Response of Coastal Wetlands to Sea-level Rise: Understanding how Macroscale Drivers Influence Local Processes and Feedbacks
The purpose of this work is to advance our understanding of how coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise (SLR) within the conterminous United States are likely to vary as a function of local, regional, and macroscale drivers, including climate. Based on our interactions with managers and decision makers, as well as our knowledge of the current state of the science, we propose to: (a) conduct a...
Critical Coastal Habitats: Sustainability, Restoration and Forecasting
USGS WARC scientists are monitoring both the long- and short-term effects of coastal restoration efforts on ecosystem health in coastal habitats of Louisiana’s Barataria Basin.
Seagrass Vulnerability to Environmental Conditions Under Changing Temperature Regimes
Seagrasses are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet. Water quality degradation and direct human disturbance have caused loss of nearly a third of the seagrass habitat worldwide. These threats are exacerbated by stresses associated with a changing global climate. Predicting how seagrass distribution, abundance, and species composition will change in response to increased temperature...
Impacts of coastal and watershed changes on upper estuaries: causes and implications of wetland ecosystem transitions along the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are coastal transition zones where freshwater rivers meet tidal seawater. As sea levels rise, tidal forces move saltier water farther upstream, extending into freshwater wetland areas. Human changes to the surrounding landscape may amplify the effects of this tidal extension, impacting the resiliency and function of the upper estuarine wetlands. One visible...
Wetlands in the Quaternary
Wetlands accumulate organic-rich sediment or peat stratigraphically, making them great archives of past environmental change. Wetlands also act as hydrologic buffers on the landscape and are important to global biogeochemical cycling. This project uses wetland archives from a range of environments to better understand how vegetation, hydrology, and hydroclimate has changed on decadal to multi...
NASA-USGS National Blue Carbon Monitoring System
The NASA-USGS National Blue Carbon Monitoring System project will evaluate the relative uncertainty of iterative modeling approaches to estimate coastal wetland (marsh and mangrove) C stocks and fluxes based on changes in wetland distributions, using nationally available datasets (Landsat) and as well as finer scale satellite and field derived data in six sentinel sites.
Filter Total Items: 24
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.
Salt marsh along the Herring River
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.
Coastal Ecosystems
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
The different components of coastal ecosystems provide services to local communities by shielding them from strong coastal winds and waves and supplying fish for industry, sport and even dinner.
Coastal Wetlands
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services such as storing carbon, reducing flood damage and serve as important habitats for fish, birds and shellfish.
Coastal Marsh in Louisiana
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
Coastal Louisiana marsh as viewed driving down to LUMCON (the Louisiana University Marine Consortium).
sUAS Lidar Training
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
Jen Cramer (USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center) surveys a ground control target using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) rover at Great Sippewissett Marsh in Falmouth, Massachusetts as part of a multiday small UAS lidar training.
USGS and partners collect a soil core in Massachusetts
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
USGS scientists Sophie Kuhl and Kevin Kroeger work with National Park Service scientist Petra Zuniga to collect a soil core from a salt marsh site where the mineral olivine was applied to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. The site is located along the Herring River at National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.
Biological Carbon Sequestration
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Biological carbon sequestration is the natural ability of life and ecosystems to store carbon. Forests, peat marshes, and coastal wetlands are particularly good as storing carbon. Carbon can be stored in plant tissue, such as long-lived tree bark or in extensive root systems. Microbes break down plant and animal tissue through decomposition.
Geologic Carbon Sequestration
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Geologic carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide from industrial processes and the atmosphere, compressing it into a liquid, and injecting it deep underground. USGS scientists are studying which types of rock formations are most suitable for storing carbon.
Eelgrass animation
A short underwater animation of an eelgrass bed and how it moves in the water current, with a crab hanging onto the blades.
A short underwater animation of an eelgrass bed and how it moves in the water current, with a crab hanging onto the blades.
USGS and USFWS Scientists at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
A USGS/USFWS team working at a coastal marsh site near a surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) station at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Left to right, Tiffany Lane, Claudia Laurenzano, Laura Feher, Camille Stagg, Jena Moon, and Michael Osland. Taken via camera timer by the team, 10/3/2019.
A USGS/USFWS team working at a coastal marsh site near a surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) station at San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Left to right, Tiffany Lane, Claudia Laurenzano, Laura Feher, Camille Stagg, Jena Moon, and Michael Osland. Taken via camera timer by the team, 10/3/2019.
Aerial photo of estuary
Aerial view of a gas flux tower in Great Barnstable Marsh in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
Aerial view of a gas flux tower in Great Barnstable Marsh in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
UAS imagery collected at Plum Island
The AIM (Aerial Imaging and Mapping group) collected UAS imagery for scientists at The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) from the Plum Island estuary in Rowley MA. Inke Forbrich from MBL will lead the analysis looking at the reflectance index NDVI for vegetation surrounding a gas flux tower installed in t
The AIM (Aerial Imaging and Mapping group) collected UAS imagery for scientists at The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) from the Plum Island estuary in Rowley MA. Inke Forbrich from MBL will lead the analysis looking at the reflectance index NDVI for vegetation surrounding a gas flux tower installed in t
Eelgrass as fish habitat
Eelgrass provides critical habitat for many fish species, including these Atlantic silversides at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass provides critical habitat for many fish species, including these Atlantic silversides at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass: A Habitat At Risk
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) forms extensive meadows in low intertidal and shallow subtidal areas of estuaries and embayments along the Northwest Atlantic coast. Eelgrass meadows are noted as critical habitat for many recreational and commercial fish species as well as small forage fish.
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) forms extensive meadows in low intertidal and shallow subtidal areas of estuaries and embayments along the Northwest Atlantic coast. Eelgrass meadows are noted as critical habitat for many recreational and commercial fish species as well as small forage fish.
Underwater eelgrass
Eelgrass is highly productive in Pleasant Bay at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass is highly productive in Pleasant Bay at Cape Cod National Seashore.
Eelgrass Survey in Alaska
Carol Damberg (USFWS) conducting survey of eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2015.
Carol Damberg (USFWS) conducting survey of eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, 2015.
Mangrove forest, Rhizophora mangle tunnel, Florida
Mangrove forest, Rhizophora mangle tunnel, Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, Florida.
Mangrove forest, Rhizophora mangle tunnel, Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park, Florida.
Salt Marshes at Chincoteague Island
Salt marshes at Chincoteague Island. The salt marshes that make up Chincoteague Island are important habitat for migrating waterfowl. In addition, they serve an important role in protecting inland ecosystems and communities from oceanic storms.
Salt marshes at Chincoteague Island. The salt marshes that make up Chincoteague Island are important habitat for migrating waterfowl. In addition, they serve an important role in protecting inland ecosystems and communities from oceanic storms.
Nisqually Delta eelgrass
Close-up image of Nisqually Delta eelgrass.
Close-up image of Nisqually Delta eelgrass.
Eelgrass bed
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.
Partially submerged eelgrass bed at low tide in Fay Bainbridge Park on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Eelgrass is an underwater plant that is a common sight on Puget Sound beaches when the tide is out. Healthy eelgrass indicates that water clarity is high.