Carbon Sequestration Rate Estimates in Delaware Bay and Barnegat Bay Tidal Wetlands Using Interpolation Mapping

Champlin Champlin,Watson Watson,Tucker Tucker,Sommerfield Sommerfield,Velinsky Velinsky,Laurent Laurent

doi:10.3390/data5010011

Abstract

Quantifying carbon sequestration by tidal wetlands is important for the management of carbon stocks as part of climate change mitigation. This data publication includes a spatial analysis of carbon accumulation rates in Barnegat and Delaware Bay tidal wetlands. One method calculated long-term organic carbon accumulation rates from radioisotope-dated (Cs-137) sediment cores. The second method measured organic carbon density of sediment accumulated above feldspar marker beds. Carbon accumulation rates generated by these two methods were interpolated across emergent wetland areas, using kriging, with uncertainty estimated by leave-one-out cross validation. This spatial analysis revealed greater carbon sequestration within Delaware, compared to Barnegat Bay. Sequestration rates were found to be more variable within Delaware Bay, and rates were greatest in the tidal freshwater area of the upper bay.

Highlights

A review estimated that United States tidal wetlands store 0.72 Pg of organic carbon [3]
A previous review of 154 marsh sites around the globe found that the mean rate of carbon burial was 210 g C m−2 yr−1 [15], which is similar to the values found in Delaware Bay and slightly higher than Barnegat Bay
In Barnegat Bay, carbon accumulation was found to be more consistent throughout the bay, but slightly higher rates were observed in the southern side of the bay, in the analysis generated using the annual method

Summary

Introduction

Quantifying carbon sequestration by tidal wetlands is important for the management of carbon stocks as part of climate change mitigation. This data publication includes a spatial analysis of carbon accumulation rates in Barnegat and Delaware Bay tidal wetlands. Carbon accumulation rates generated by these two methods were interpolated across emergent wetland areas, using kriging, with uncertainty estimated by leave-one-out cross validation. This spatial analysis revealed greater carbon sequestration within Delaware, compared to Barnegat Bay. Sequestration rates were found to be more variable within Delaware Bay, and rates were greatest in the tidal freshwater area of the upper bay

Methods

Results

Conclusion