The term "blue carbon" was coined to emphasize the importance of aquatic ecosystems dominated by vascular plants in the c cycle. Ecosystems dominated by submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV freshwater…

Old Dominion University Research Foundation (ODURF) has been awarded a $1.12 million research grant (Contract 23-CMS23-0011) by a civilian federal agency to develop a prototype Blue Carbon Observatory focused on submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Chesapeake Bay region. The research initiative, titled "Prototype for a Blue Carbon Observatory: Submerged Aquatic Vegetation in the Chesapeake Bay - Where's the Peat," will investigate carbon sequestration dynamics in aquatic ecosystems dominated by vascular plants such as wild celery and eelgrass. The project will employ remote sensing technology to monitor SAV distribution and abundance across a salinity gradient spanning from freshwater meadows in the Susquehanna Flats to oceanic coastal lagoons in the Delmarva Peninsula, with the goal of improving the ability to accurately measure and monitor blue carbon dynamics at temporal and spatial scales previously unavailable through traditional methods.

The contract, effective January 1, 2025, with an ultimate completion date of December 31, 2027, carries no set-aside designation and is classified as a research grant with other pricing arrangements. The work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, where ODURF, a tax-exempt research organization affiliated with Old Dominion University, maintains its primary operations. The research addresses a critical scientific gap regarding the variable rates of carbon sequestration in SAV meadows, which can differ by more than 200-fold globally, by examining how organic carbon preservation, pyrite abundance, and alkalinity-derived carbon trapping vary across freshwater and marine environments within the Chesapeake ecosystem.

The term "blue carbon" was coined to emphasize the importance of aquatic ecosystems dominated by vascular plants in the c cycle. Ecosystems dominated by submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV freshwater plants and seagrasses) sequester c through living biomass, burial of organic c in permanently flooded sediments and by microbial dissimilatory sulfate reduction (mdsr) that generates pyrite and alkalinity and traps respired c in the stable oceanic HCO3- pool and out the atmosphere for >1000 YRS. However, rates of c sequestration in SAV meadows vary by >200X across the globe. Nonetheless, standing biomass represents a conservative lower bound for estimating blue carbon, and we can now make those measurements from space at temporal and spatial scales that offer to improve our ability to accurately monitor the blue carbon dynamics of SAV ecosystems. We will monitor SAV distribution/abundance from remote sensing and link those quantities to blue carbon burial. Our study will focus on SAV in the chesapeake region that inhabit a strong salinity gradient from the freshwater meadows of wild celery in susquehanna flats to the lush eelgrass meadows in the fully oceanic coastal lagoons of the delmarva peninsula. Organic c preservation should be highest in the freshwater sediments and decline with increasing salinity because of mdsr. However, pyrite abundance and alkalinityderived c trapping should become more important as salinity increases down the BAY and into the coastal lagoons because mdsr requires SO4-2 that is 250-fold more abundant in seawater than in freshwater.