The greenhouse gas flux and potential global warming feedbacks of a northern macrotidal and microtidal salt marsh
Environmental Research Letters
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Abstract
Conversion of wetlands by drainage for agriculture or other anthropogenic activities could have a negative or positive feedback to global warming (GWF). We suggest that a major predictor of the GWF is salinity of the wetland soil (a proxy for available sulfate), a factor often ignored in other studies. We assess the radiative balance of two northern salt marshes with average soil salinities > 20 ppt, but with high (macro-) and low (micro-) tidal amplitudes. The flux of greenhouse gases from soils at the end of the growing season averaged 485 ± 253 mg m-2 h-1, 13 ± 30 μg m-2 h-1, and 19 ± 58 μg m-2 h-1 in the microtidal marsh and 398 ± 201 mg m-2 h-1, 2 ± 26 μg m-2 h-1, and 35 ± 77 μg m-2 h-1 in the macrotidal marsh for CO2, N2O, and CH4, respectively. High rates of C sequestration mean that loss of these marshes would have a radiative balance of - 981 CO2_eq. m-2 yr-1 in the microtidal and - 567 CO2_eq. m-2 yr-1 in the macrotidal marsh.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | The greenhouse gas flux and potential global warming feedbacks of a northern macrotidal and microtidal salt marsh |
| Series title | Environmental Research Letters |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/6/4/044016 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Year Published | 2011 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing |
| Publisher location | Philadelphia, PA |
| Contributing office(s) | Patuxent Wildlife Research Center |
| Description | 7 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Environmental Research Letters |
| First page | 044016 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |