Blue carbon

Ways one blue carbon habitat can influence the carbon concentration and future carbon sequestration in an adjacent blue carbon habitat[1]

Blue carbon is a concept within climate change mitigation that refers to "biologically driven carbon fluxes and storage in marine systems that are amenable to management".[2]: 2220  Most commonly, it refers to the role that tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrass meadows can play in carbon sequestration.[2]: 2220  These ecosystems can play an important role for climate change mitigation and ecosystem-based adaptation. However, when blue carbon ecosystems are degraded or lost, they release carbon back to the atmosphere, thereby adding to greenhouse gas emissions.[2]: 2220 

The methods for blue carbon management fall into the category of "ocean-based biological carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods".[3]: 764  They are a type of biological carbon fixation.

Scientists are looking for ways to further develop the blue carbon potential of ecosystems.[4] However, the long-term effectiveness of blue carbon as a carbon dioxide removal solution is under debate.[5][4][6]

The term deep blue carbon is also in use and refers to storing carbon in the deep ocean waters.[7]

  1. ^ Huxham, M.; Whitlock, D.; Githaiga, M.; Dencer-Brown, A. (2018). "Carbon in the Coastal Seascape: How Interactions Between Mangrove Forests, Seagrass Meadows and Tidal Marshes Influence Carbon Storage". Current Forestry Reports. 4 (2): 101–110. Bibcode:2018CForR...4..101H. doi:10.1007/s40725-018-0077-4. S2CID 135243725. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference IPCC AR6 WGI Glossary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Canadell, J. G., P. M. S. Monteiro, M. H. Costa, L. Cotrim da Cunha, P. M. Cox, A. V. Eliseev, S. Henson, M. Ishii, S. Jaccard, C. Koven, A. Lohila, P. K. Patra, S. Piao, J. Rogelj, S. Syampungani, S. Zaehle, and K. Zickfeld, 2021: Chapter 5: Global Carbon and other Biogeochemical Cycles and Feedbacks. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S. L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M. I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J. B. R. Matthews, T. K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 673–816, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.007.
  4. ^ a b Ricart, Aurora M.; Krause-Jensen, Dorte; Hancke, Kasper; Price, Nichole N.; Masqué, Pere; Duarte, Carlos M. (2022). "Sinking seaweed in the deep ocean for carbon neutrality is ahead of science and beyond the ethics". Environmental Research Letters. 17 (8): 081003. Bibcode:2022ERL....17h1003R. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac82ff. hdl:10754/679874. S2CID 250973225.
  5. ^ Hurd, Catriona L.; Law, Cliff S.; Bach, Lennart T.; Britton, Damon; Hovenden, Mark; Paine, Ellie R.; Raven, John A.; Tamsitt, Veronica; Boyd, Philip W. (2022). "Forensic carbon accounting: Assessing the role of seaweeds for carbon sequestration". Journal of Phycology. 58 (3): 347–363. Bibcode:2022JPcgy..58..347H. doi:10.1111/jpy.13249. PMID 35286717. S2CID 247453370.
  6. ^ Boyd, Philip W.; Bach, Lennart T.; Hurd, Catriona L.; Paine, Ellie; Raven, John A.; Tamsitt, Veronica (2022). "Potential negative effects of ocean afforestation on offshore ecosystems". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 6 (6): 675–683. Bibcode:2022NatEE...6..675B. doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01722-1. PMID 35449458. S2CID 248322820.
  7. ^ "What Is Blue Carbon?". CarbonBetter. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2023-05-20.