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Assessment of landscape-scale fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane in subtropical coastal wetlands of South Florida
  • +20
  • Erin Rose Delaria,
  • Glenn Wolfe,
  • Kaitlyn Blanock,
  • Reem A Hannun,
  • Kenneth L Thornhill,
  • Paul A. Newman,
  • Leslie Lait,
  • Stephan Randolph Kawa,
  • Jessica Alvarez,
  • Spencer Blum,
  • Edward Castañeda-Moya,
  • Christopher D. Holmes,
  • David Lagomasino,
  • Sparkle Leigh Malone,
  • Dylan Murphy,
  • Steven F. Oberbauer,
  • Chandler Pruett,
  • Aaron Sere,
  • Gregory Starr,
  • Robert Szot,
  • Tiffany Troxler,
  • David Yannick,
  • Benjamin Poulter
Erin Rose Delaria
University of Maryland College Park, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Glenn Wolfe
University of Maryland Baltimore County
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Kaitlyn Blanock
University of Pittsburgh
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Reem A Hannun
University of Pittsburgh
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Kenneth L Thornhill
NASA Langley Research Center
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Paul A. Newman
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
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Leslie Lait
Unknown
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Stephan Randolph Kawa
NASA GSFC
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Jessica Alvarez
Florida State University
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Spencer Blum
Florida State University
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Edward Castañeda-Moya
Florida International University, Institute of Environment
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Christopher D. Holmes
Florida State University
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David Lagomasino
Coastal Studies Institute, East Carolina University
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Sparkle Leigh Malone
Yale University
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Dylan Murphy
Florida State University
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Steven F. Oberbauer
Florida International University
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Chandler Pruett
Florida State University
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Aaron Sere
Florida State University
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Gregory Starr
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
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Robert Szot
Florida State University
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Tiffany Troxler
Florida International University
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David Yannick
University of Alabama
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Benjamin Poulter
NASA
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Abstract

Coastal wetlands play a significant role in the storage of ‘blue carbon’, indicating their importance in the carbon biogeochemistry in the coastal zone and in global climate change mitigation strategies. We present airborne eddy-covariance observations of CO2 and CH4 fluxes collected in southern Florida as part of the NASA BlueFlux mission during April 2022, October 2022, February 2023, and April 2023. The flux data generated from this mission consists of over 100 flight hours and more than 6000 km of horizontal distance over coastal saline and freshwater wetlands. We find that the spatial and temporal heterogeneity in CO2 and CH4 exchange is primarily influenced by season, vegetation type, ecosystem productivity, and soil inundation. The largest CO2 uptake fluxes of more than -20 µmol m-2 s-1 were observed over mangroves during all deployments and over swamp forests during flights in April. The greatest CH4 effluxes of more than 250 nmol m-2 s-1 were measured at the end of the wet season in October 2022 over freshwater marshes and swamp shrublands. Although the combined Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve region was a net sink for carbon, CH4 emissions reduced the ecosystem carbon uptake capacity (net CO2 exchange rates) by 11-91%. Average total net carbon exchange rates during the flight periods were -4 to -0.2 g CO2-eq m-2 d-1. Our results highlight the importance of preserving mangrove forests and point to potential avenues of further research for greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.
04 Apr 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
16 Apr 2024Published in ESS Open Archive