Outwelling of Dissolved Organic Carbon from Salt Marshes

盐沼中溶解有机碳的流出

• 批准号: 1357141
• 负责人: Jennifer Cherrier
• 金额: $ 4.45万
• 依托单位: Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-02-15 至 2015-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1357141&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Outwelling; Dissolved; Organic; Carbon; Salt

Although ocean margins cover only 5% of the ocean surface, they play a disproportionate role in ocean productivity. Of particular interest is the 14,500 km2 of estuarine wetlands that border the Gulf of Mexico, about 2/3 of which are intertidal salt marshes. Very little is known about the magnitude and fate of organic matter that originates in coastal marshes and enters the coastal ocean. While "outwelling," or flux of organic carbon from land to sea, of significant amounts of organic carbon was hypothesized over 25 years ago, little progress has been made in quantifying this potentially significant source. In this study, researchers at Florida A&M University will continue their research to combine discrete biogeochemical and hydrologic measurements together with modeling to quantify salt marsh derived dissolved organic carbon flux to offshore Gulf of Mexico waters. Results from this study will provide the first quantitative estimates of dissolved organic carbon outwelling fluxes from salt marshes, resulting in a better understanding of the coupled terrestrial and oceanic carbon cycle.Broader Impacts: As intertidal environments have declined rapidly over the past century due to human pressures, ever-smaller quantities of terrestrial organic matter are available for the formation and export of dissolved organic carbon to the ocean. Results from this research will provide the data to accurately evaluate the importance of these intertidal ecosystems, and help to inform policy on conserving these habitats. In addition, this project will provide a broad range of interdisciplinary learning opportunities for a diversity of students in middle through graduate school. The researchers will collaborate with COSEE-Florida, COSEE-New England, and Watershed-Integrated Sciences Partnership (GK12) programs to conduct outreach to the community.

虽然海洋边缘只占海洋表面的5%，但它们在海洋生产力中发挥着不成比例的作用。特别令人感兴趣的是与墨西哥湾接壤的14 500平方公里的河口湿地，其中约三分之二是潮间带盐沼。人们对源自沿海沼泽并进入沿海海洋的有机物的数量和命运知之甚少。虽然25年前就提出了大量有机碳的“外流”或有机碳从陆地流入海洋的假设，但在量化这一潜在的重要来源方面进展甚微。在这项研究中，研究人员在佛罗里达A M大学将继续他们的研究，联合收割机离散地球化学和水文测量与建模一起量化盐沼衍生的溶解有机碳通量到近海墨西哥湾沃茨。这项研究的结果将首次提供对溶解有机碳从盐沼向外排放通量的定量估计，从而更好地了解陆地和海洋碳循环的耦合情况。由于人类的压力，在过去的世纪，潮间带环境迅速下降，陆地有机物的数量越来越少，可用于形成溶解的有机碳并将其输出到海洋。这项研究的结果将提供准确评估这些潮间带生态系统重要性的数据，并有助于为保护这些栖息地的政策提供信息。此外，该项目将为中学到研究生院的各种学生提供广泛的跨学科学习机会。研究人员将与COSEE-Florida，COSEE-New England和Watershed-Integrated Sciences Partnership（GK 12）计划合作，向社区进行推广。