Carbon New England Wetland Time-Series (C-NEWTS)

Groundwater-surface water exchange in tidal wetlands mediates the transport of dissolved carbon to estuarine and shelf waters. This lateral export of “blue carbon”, or carbon “outwelling”, represents a major sink of TA, DIC, and DOC in the coastal ocean. With funds from NSF Chemical Oceanography (award # 2242114), we are studying the driving forces of groundwater-surface water exchange in salt marsh habitats and how dissolved carbon is transformed and exported along groundwater flowpaths.

Some C-NEWTS team members, April 2024 (from left to right: Kate Morkeski, Meagan Eagle, Kevin Kroeger, Aleck Wang, Moira Taylor)
PhD student Moira Taylor, sampling pore waters at Bass Creek, July 2024
Meagan Eagle, USGS, measuring CO2 and CH4 fluxes
Meagan Eagle (USGS), measuring CO2 and CH4 fluxes

COLDSHIFT

Cold-season hydrological dynamics and biogeochemical processes have seldom been evaluated in salt marshes, preventing accurate estimates of local and global carbon outwelling. This project’s goal is to better understand cold-season freeze-thaw processes, groundwater flow dynamics, and lateral carbon export in North Atlantic salt marshes.  We are working in collaboration with Julia Guimond (WHOI, lead PI) and Meagan Eagle (USGS, co-PI), funded by NSF Hydrologic Sciences (award # 2342824).

Read the project highlight in Oceanus here.

photo: Brady Clark (WHOI)
photo: Brady Clark (WHOI)
Licor + Rad8 monitoring in a marsh tidal creek