| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 27, 2022 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 6, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 2136225 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Luciana Astiz
lastiz@nsf.gov (703)292-4705 EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2022 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $406,100.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $416,100.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2023 = $10,000.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1156 HIGH ST SANTA CRUZ CA US 95064-1077 (831)459-5278 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA US 95064-0017 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Instrumentation & Facilities |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This award will support the acquisition of eddy covariance towers and carbonate chemistry sensors to continuously monitor greenhouse gas emissions and lateral carbon fluxes at Elkhorn Slough ? a National Estuarine Reserve site and the largest coastal tidal wetland in California outside the San Francisco Bay-Delta. The eddy covariance method is the preferred technique today for estimating gas fluxes which permits calculation of seasonal and annual emissions and inventories. Data obtained will be deposited in the AmeriFlux database and will contribute to better constrain the carbon budget in these systems and allow for extrapolation to other coastal wetlands. The outcomes will also enable coupling of Earth System Models with realistic predictions emissions from coastal/tidal wetlands based on reliable emission data.
This project will provide quantitative information that will enable local communities and policy managers to understand the cost-benefits of restoring wetlands to sequester carbon and enhance other ecosystem services. It will improve our understanding on the processes that control greenhouse gas emissions from coastal wetlands, information that will help decision-making and the financing and methodological guidance for introducing coastal wetland management projects into carbon markets. The project also will provide summer internship opportunities for local under-represented students to work at the site using authentic data directly relevant to them and hence expanding their climate and data literacy. In addition, we will develop and offer a course on data literacy in which students will use authentic data from the towers (and other sites) to hone their data and modeling skills.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Coastal wetlands provide many valuable benefits to humans, including carbon dioxide removal which can reduce climate impacts. However, wetlands can also release greenhouse gases. Due to the large spatial and temporal variability in gas emissions from these systems estimates of gas fluxes are generally uncertain. The preferred technique today for estimating gas fluxes which permits calculation of seasonal and annual gas fluxes and inventories is the eddy covariance method. This proposal provided support to build and operate eddy covariance towers to collect continuous measurements of gas emissions in Elkhorn Slough the larget coastal wetland in California outside the San Francisco Bay and Delta. This will allow for better quntification of net carbon burial in these systems and the assessment of the processes that control net carbon burial. Data obtained using the eddy covariance towers will contribute to several current and future projects and be instrumental to justifying more process-based research in future proposals to local and federal agencies.
Obtaining and operating eddy covariance towers to assess gas emissions in coastal wetlands in California and the relation of these emission fluxes to subsurface biogeochemical processes and other environmental parameters will allow for the first time to link gas dynamics on multiple spatial and temporal scales to water quality. The outcomes will also enable coupling of models of different scale from nano and microscale biogeochemical and reaction transport models to Earth System Models with realistic predictions of emissions from coastal/tidal wetlands based on reliable gas emission data. The data will also be crucial for performing a quantitative economic assessment wetland ecosystem services. To our knowledge no study to date has reported gas emissions from coastal wetlands in California that accurately capture the spatial and temporal variability in these fluxes and most importantly relate them to subsurface biogeochemistry. The results of this project, facilitated by the eddy covariance towers, will improve our understanding on the processes that control gas emissions from coastal wetlands and how emissions are linked to subsurface processes that control pollutant fate and transport. This information can information that will help decision-making and the financing and methodological guidance for pollutant remediation projects.
Last Modified: 08/15/2024
Modified by: Adina Paytan
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