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Carbon dioxide fluxes of an urban tidal marsh in the Hudson‐Raritan estuary
Author(s) -
Schäfer K. V. R.,
Tripathee R.,
Artigas F.,
Morin T. H.,
Bohrer G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8961
pISSN - 2169-8953
DOI - 10.1002/2014jg002703
Subject(s) - wetland , estuary , eddy covariance , environmental science , ecosystem , brackish water , marsh , ecosystem respiration , brackish marsh , salt marsh , carbon sink , carbon dioxide , sink (geography) , hydrology (agriculture) , oceanography , atmospheric sciences , ecology , salinity , geography , geology , geotechnical engineering , biology , cartography
Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of tidal brackish wetlands in urban areas is largely unknown, albeit it is an important ecosystem service. High carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) uptake of estuaries can potentially be achieved by creating conditions that foster CO 2 uptake and sequestration. Thus, this study sought to assess NEE in a mesohaline tidal urban wetland that has been restored and determine the biophysical drivers of NEE in order to investigate uptake strength and drivers thereof. Beginning in 2009, NEE was measured using the eddy covariance technique in a restored urban estuarine wetland. Maximum NEE rates observed were −30 µmol m −2 s −1 under high light conditions in the summer. Monthly mean NEE showed this ecosystem to be a CO 2 source in the winter, but a CO 2 sink in summer. Conditional Granger causality showed the influence of net radiation on half daily to biweekly timescales on NEE and the influence of water level at half daily time scales. The overall productivity of this wetland is within the expected range of tidal brackish marshes and it was a sink for atmospheric CO 2 in two out of the 3 years of this study and had a continued increase over the study period.