Subtropical estuarine carbon budget under various hydrologic extremes and implications on the lateral carbon exchange from tidal wetlands

Yao, Hongming; Montagna, Paul A.; Wetz, Michael S.; Staryk, Cory J.; Hu, Xinping

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2022.118436

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This study period (2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018) covered an initial extreme drought (before mid-2015), followed by several regional flooding events and subsequent flood relaxation periods that affected the entire nwGOM coast. In particular, LCE and GE were significantly affected by Hurricane Harvey due to hydrological condition changes (Yao et al, 2022). The large changes in salinity, from hypersaline to brief, yet nearly complete freshening of the estuarine waters, along with flood-induced productivity change as well as ephemeral hypoxia (%DO saturation decreases to less than 20%) in limited areas within some of the estuaries, provided an opportunity to examine the "baseline" and temporal changes in Ω arag .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The large changes in salinity, from hypersaline to brief, yet nearly complete freshening of the estuarine waters, along with flood-induced productivity change as well as ephemeral hypoxia (%DO saturation decreases to less than 20%) in limited areas within some of the estuaries, provided an opportunity to examine the "baseline" and temporal changes in Ω arag . Understanding Ω arag dynamics under these contrasting conditions in the context of multidecadal Ω arag trends found in these estuaries (Mccutcheon and Hu, 2022) is potentially important for managing and (Yao et al, 2022). The horizontal dashed line (blue) represents the open ocean TA value (2060 μmol kg −1 at salinity 36) (Hu et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, large freshwater discharge events driven by hurricanes and storms have caused a significant decrease in the abundance of oysters (Pollack et al, 2011;Du et al, 2021). These systems experienced severe drought in the earlier portion of the study period and went through multiple large freshwater discharge events (Yao et al, 2022). To better understand these ecosystems that host this important species and the habitats that they create, we examined a previously poorly studied water chemistry parameter, Ω arag , and other water quality data collected in four mid-coast estuaries in recent years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data from each estuary are shown in black symbols against the entire dataset (gray). The green error bar in each panel represents the river endmember value (±1 standard deviation) for the corresponding estuary(Yao et al, 2022). The horizontal dashed line (blue) represents the open ocean TA value (2,390 μmol kg −1 at salinity 36)(Hu et al, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Aragonite saturation states in estuaries along a climate gradient in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Yao

McCutcheon

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the northwestern Gulf of Mexico (nwGOM), the coastal climate shifts abruptly from the humid northeast to the semiarid southwest within a narrow latitudinal range. The climate effect plays an important role in controlling freshwater discharge into the shallow estuaries in this region. In addition to diminishing freshwater runoff down the coast, evaporation also increases substantially. Hence, these estuaries show increasing salinity along the coastline due to the large difference in freshwater inflow balance (river runoff and precipitation minus evaporation and diversion). However, this spatial gradient can be disrupted by intense storm events as a copious amount of precipitation leads to river flooding, which can cause temporary freshening of these systems in extreme cases, in addition to freshwater-induced ephemeral stratification. We examined estuarine water aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) data collected between 2014 and 2018, covering a period of contrasting hydrological conditions, from the initial drought to multiple flooding events, including a brief period that was influenced by a category 4 hurricane. Based on freshwater availability, these estuaries exhibited a diminishing Ωarag fluctuation from the most freshwater enriched Guadalupe Estuary to the most freshwater-starved Nueces Estuary. While Ωarag values were usually much higher than the threshold level (Ωarag = 1), brief freshwater discharge events and subsequent low oxygen levels in the lower water column led to episodic corrosive conditions. Based on previously obtained Ωarag temporal trends and Ωarag values obtained in this study, we estimated the time of emergence (ToE) for Ωarag. Not only did estuaries show decreasing ToE with diminishing freshwater availability but the sub-embayments of individual estuaries that had a less freshwater influence also had shorter ToE. This spatial pattern suggests that planning coastal restoration efforts, especially for shellfish organisms, should emphasize areas with longer ToE.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Aragonite saturation states in estuaries along a climate gradient in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Yao

McCutcheon

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, lateral flow plays a major role in the wetland's carbon and nutrient budgets where dissolved materials could be imported or exported from the wetland, thus altering the mass balance and corresponding dynamics of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles (Bogard et al., 2020; Herbert et al., 2020; Xiao et al., 2019), where it is highly dependent on the wetlands' type and location (Atkinson et al., 2019). For example, lateral flow exports and imports are significantly different between wetlands downstream of agricultural lands (Johnes et al., 2020; Villa et al., 2023), tropical/subtropical and tidal wetlands (Cobb et al., 2020; Yao et al., 2022), and arctic wetlands (Young et al., 2021).…”

Section: Overview Of Methane Dynamics In Wetlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three Decades of Wetland Methane Surface Flux Modeling by Earth System Models‐Advances, Applications, and Challenges

Forbrich,

Yazbeck,

Sulman

et al. 2024

JGR Biogeosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Earth System Models (ESMs) simulate the exchange of mass and energy between the land surface and the atmosphere, with a key focus on modeling natural greenhouse gas feedbacks. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. There are growing concerns over the rapidly increasing methane concentration in the atmosphere, underscoring the need for accurate global modeling of its emissions using ESMs. Of the multitude of sources of methane globally, wetlands are the largest natural emitters for methane, leading to significant efforts targeting their representation in ESMs with a special focus on their methane emissions. In this review, we first provide a historical overview of including wetland‐methane components in ESMs and how methane modeling approaches have evolved over time. Second, we discuss recent modeling advancements that show promise for improvements in methane emissions predictions, namely the coupling of surface and atmospheric modules of ESMs, the representation of microtopography and transport mechanisms, the resolution of microbial processes at different spatial‐temporal scales, and the improved mapping of wetland area extent across the different wetland types. Third, we shed light on the different challenges hindering accurate estimations of wetland‐methane emissions, as shown by the consistent discrepancy between bottom‐up and top‐down models' predictions. Finally, we emphasize that more detailed representation of biogeochemistry and dynamic hydrology while resolving the within‐wetland vegetation heterogeneity should improve model predictions, especially when coupled with expanding ground‐based measurement networks and high‐resolution remote sensing mapping of methane‐relevant variables, such as water elevation, water table depth, and methane concentration.

show abstract

Influence of Rivers, Tides, and Tidal Wetlands on Estuarine Carbonate System Dynamics

Da,

Friedrichs,

St-Laurent

et al. 2024

Estuaries and Coasts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Variations in estuarine carbonate chemistry can have critical impacts on marine calcifying organisms, yet the drivers of this variability are difficult to quantify from observations alone, due to the strong spatiotemporal variability of these systems. Terrestrial runoff and wetland processes vary year to year based on local precipitation, and estuarine processes are often strongly modulated by tides. In this study, a 3D-coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model is used to quantify the controls on the carbonate system of a coastal plain estuary, specifically the York River estuary. Experiments were conducted both with and without tidal wetlands. Results show that on average, wetlands account for 20–30% of total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) fluxes into the estuary, and double-estuarine CO2 outgassing. Strong quasi-monthly variability is driven by the tides and causes fluctuations between net heterotrophy and net autotrophy. On longer time scales, model results show that in wetter years, lower light availability decreases primary production relative to biological respiration (i.e., greater net heterotrophy) resulting in substantial increases in CO2 outgassing. Additionally, in wetter years, advective exports of DIC and TA to the Chesapeake Bay increase by a factor of three to four, resulting in lower concentrations of DIC and TA within the estuary. Quantifying the impacts of these complex drivers is not only essential for a better understanding of coastal carbon and alkalinity cycling, but also leads to an improved assessment of the health and functioning of coastal ecosystems both in the present day and under future climate change.

show abstract

Subtropical estuarine carbon budget under various hydrologic extremes and implications on the lateral carbon exchange from tidal wetlands

Cited by 10 publications

References 58 publications

Aragonite saturation states in estuaries along a climate gradient in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Aragonite saturation states in estuaries along a climate gradient in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Three Decades of Wetland Methane Surface Flux Modeling by Earth System Models‐Advances, Applications, and Challenges

Influence of Rivers, Tides, and Tidal Wetlands on Estuarine Carbonate System Dynamics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About