ABSTRACT
Mapping change in land area is particularly important for tidal marshes, as land conversion generates the greatest carbon emissions for the ecosystems. Among Blue Carbon ecosystems, information on the distribution and extent of tidal marshes globally is lacking compared to mangrove forest. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change inventory approach estimates carbon emissions based on change in carbon pools. For tidal marshes, these pools include aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead wood, litter, and soil organic matter. In the United States, the primary dataset being used for tidal marsh greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Change Analysis Program. Distinguishing brackish and saline tidal marshes with remote-sensing data has been challenging. Image scale is an important consideration for quantifying biomass in tidal marshes. With land conversion being one of the greatest sources of carbon emissions for tidal marsh, nationally consistent spatial datasets of marsh area, which are updated regularly, provide a key resource for GHG Inventories.
