Eroding US coastal marshes send about 660,000 tonnes of carbon to the ocean each year
Combining Landsat imagery with USGS lidar for 1985 to 2022, researchers tracked marsh erosion from Texas to Maine and estimated that it delivers about 660,000 tonnes of carbon a year into coastal waters. After accounting for carbon retained in newly formed marshes, net annual export is roughly 380,000 tonnes. The Mississippi River Delta contributes a large share; the periods after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 stand out separately.
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Reported development
Eroding US coastal marshes send about 660,000 tonnes of carbon to the ocean each year Combining Landsat imagery with USGS lidar for 1985 to 2022, researchers tracked marsh erosion from Texas to Maine and estimated that it delivers about 660,000 tonnes of carbon a year into coastal waters. After accounting for carbon retained in newly formed marshes, net annual export is roughly 380,000 tonnes. The Mississippi River Delta contributes a large share; the periods after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 stand out separately. Modelling carbon moving from land to sea has been hard because shoreline environments are complex; the approach here substitutes repeat satellite observation for that modelling.[1]
Details in the report
Combining Landsat imagery with USGS lidar for 1985 to 2022, researchers tracked marsh erosion from Texas to Maine and estimated that it delivers about 660,000 tonnes of carbon a year into coastal waters. After accounting for carbon retained in newly formed marshes, net annual export is roughly 380,000 tonnes. The Mississippi River Delta contributes a large share; the periods after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 stand out separately. Modelling carbon moving from land to sea has been hard because shoreline environments are complex; the approach here substitutes repeat satellite observation for that modelling. The peer-reviewed study, led by Courtney A. Di Vittorio, appears in Communications Earth & Environment.[1]
Additional context
Eroding US coastal marshes send about 660,000 tonnes of carbon to the ocean each year Combining Landsat imagery with USGS lidar for 1985 to 2022, researchers tracked marsh erosion from Texas to Maine and estimated that it delivers about 660,000 tonnes of carbon a year into coastal waters. After accounting for carbon retained in newly formed marshes, net annual export is roughly 380,000 tonnes. The Mississippi River Delta contributes a large share; the periods after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ida in 2021 stand out separately. The peer-reviewed study, led by Courtney A. Di Vittorio, appears in Communications Earth & Environment.[1]
