Updating and Enhancing Coastal Vegetation and Blue Carbon Datasets on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal
For the past decade, the NROC and the Northeast Ocean Data Portal have worked with experts in the region to compile data and map eelgrass (Zostera marina) and salt marsh habitats at the regional scale. Since 2020, the NROC and the Portal team have been working with US EPA Region 1 and the Coastal Vegetation & Blue Carbon Work Group to update the existing data layers depicting current and historical extents of eelgrass and the current extent of tidal wetlands as well as the development of new data products that represent stocks of blue carbon in the Northeast US associated with eelgrass and salt marsh habitats.
Blue carbon is the term used to define carbon sequestered in marine habitats, i.e., seagrasses, marshes, and mangroves. Research has shown the carbon storage potential of these habitats are much greater than those of other global carbon sinks. Therefore, it is critical that these habitats are conserved to allow for continued carbon storage and sequestration into the future. A broad cross section of coastal and marine stakeholders will gain access to updated and enhanced coastal habitat data; this effort will help to support ocean planning, management, and blue carbon assessment in the Northeast US.
Latest updates on Blue Carbon data:
- In April 2021, the Work Group released updated regional maps of current and historical eelgrass habitat.
- The Work Group added a layer to the Portal depicting tidal marshes in the northeast region using data from the Saltmarsh Habitat Avian Research Program and the USGS Conceptual Marsh Units of Massachusetts salt marshes.
- In August 2023, EPA Region 1, on behalf of the Coastal Vegetation & Blue Carbon Work Group, released the first maps of blue carbon reservoirs from Maine to Long Island, New York on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal, and a technical report that documents the methodology.
- In partnership with EPA Region 1, the New England Aquarium installed a temporary Blue Carbon exhibit that features some of this group’s work. Read the story in the Boston Globe.
- The Coastal Vegetation & Blue Carbon Work Group hosted an all-day workshop in November 2023 in Portsmouth NH. View the NROC Coastal Vegetation & Blue Carbon Workshop Summary.
November 2023 Workshop Outcomes
Identification of future Coastal Vegetation & Blue Carbon Work Group Priorities
- Continue to convene the NROC Coastal Vegetation & Blue Carbon Work Group
- Update coastal vegetation data products
- Update blue carbon heatmaps
- Improve field data collection in coastal vegetation habitats (groundtruth of remote sensing data, coarse marine sediments, marsh soil depth)
- Collect eelgrass cores in deep and/or coarse sediments, which are under-studied
- Collect marsh soil depth data to improve assumptions about the depth of carbon reservoirs in regional maps
- Identify vulnerable blue carbon reservoirs and those with restoration opportunities
- Develop Portal interface that provides more context / key methods and limitations of regional blue carbon assessment and allows users to create custom queries of blue carbon stock quantities at different scales
photo credit: Phil Colarusso