Dear colleagues,
We’re in touch to bring your attention to an AGU workshop on alkalinity exports to sea from blue carbon ecosystems, occurring on the Sunday prior to the upcoming fall meeting in San Francisco, California. Science and policy around alkalinity and carbon exports from salt marshes and mangroves have progressed significantly toward representation as a carbon sink in GHG inventories and in carbon markets. Our intent in this and related activities is to work toward: a common understanding of the significance of these exports, a continual improvement and standardization of methods, and a common interpretation of data. In the workshop a team of researchers will convey our most up to date understanding of the processes and key observation methods, based new research carried out in projects including: CNEWTS,NASA CMS-LF, and COLDSHIFT.
We hope to see you there! And please forward to interested parties.
SCIWS29 – Robust Approaches to Measure and Monitor Lateral Carbon & Alkalinity Flux in Tidal Wetlands
Sunday December 6, 2026
13:00 – 16:30 PST
Moscone Center, Room 304 – South
Workshop Overview
Salt marshes and mangroves are increasingly recognized as important “blue carbon” ecosystems, capable of sequestering large amounts of atmospheric carbon through sediment burial. A substantial—and often dominant—portion of marsh carbon is laterally exported to coastal waters as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and total alkalinity (TA) during tidal flooding and drainage. Despite its importance for coastal carbon and alkalinity budgets, for interpretation of bottom-up and top-down monitoring of carbon budget, and for improvements to Earth System Models, lateral fluxes remain as a major uncertainty in wetland biogeochemical cycles.
Salt marshes and mangroves are increasingly recognized as important “blue carbon” ecosystems, capable of sequestering large amounts of atmospheric carbon through sediment burial. A substantial—and often dominant—portion of marsh carbon is laterally exported to coastal waters as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and total alkalinity (TA) during tidal flooding and drainage. Despite its importance for coastal carbon and alkalinity budgets, for interpretation of bottom-up and top-down monitoring of carbon budget, and for improvements to Earth System Models, lateral fluxes remain as a major uncertainty in wetland biogeochemical cycles.
This scientific workshop will bring together researchers to synthesize current understanding, evaluate methods, and build consensus around best practices for measuring, interpreting, and scaling lateral dissolved carbon and alkalinity exports from tidal wetlands. The workshop is motivated by new research demonstrating that lateral exports might substantially exceed carbon burial, but that rates can vary widely across space and time.
How to register for the workshop:
- Meeting registration is now open and you are encouraged to register by the early deadline of 5 November to take advantage of discounted rates.
- Do not select “Skip to Housing”
- At ‘Ticketed Events’
- Select Workshops
- Click load more
- Find ‘Robust Approaches…’
- Add the workshop
- Cost is $90
How to add a workshop if you have already registered for the conference:
-
- Return to the official AGU26 Attend page and click the Register and Book Housing link.
- Log in using the same AGU account credentials you used to purchase your main meeting ticket.
- Select the option to Add Events.
- Navigate to the add-ons or “Scientific Workshops” step, choose your desired session, and complete the check-out process for the workshop fee.
Who Should Attend
This workshop is designed for marine and coastal scientists, including biogeochemists, chemical oceanographers, ecologists, hydrologists, modelers, postdocs, and graduate students working in tidal wetlands, estuaries, and nearshore systems. It is also highly relevant for researchers interested in blue carbon accounting, carbon markets, coastal acidification, sea-level rise impacts, and the coupling between terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic carbon cycles. Early career scientists and students will especially benefit from exposure to state-of-the-art tools and conceptual frameworks in this rapidly developing field.
This workshop is designed for marine and coastal scientists, including biogeochemists, chemical oceanographers, ecologists, hydrologists, modelers, postdocs, and graduate students working in tidal wetlands, estuaries, and nearshore systems. It is also highly relevant for researchers interested in blue carbon accounting, carbon markets, coastal acidification, sea-level rise impacts, and the coupling between terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic carbon cycles. Early career scientists and students will especially benefit from exposure to state-of-the-art tools and conceptual frameworks in this rapidly developing field.
Why Participate
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the physical, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes that regulate lateral carbon and alkalinity fluxes. The workshop will highlight complementary measurement approaches, including high frequency time‑series observations and concentration modeling in tidal creeks, and tracer-based flux calculations used to distinguish carbon sources and pathways. By addressing different measurement techniques and the spatiotemporal scales they integrate, the workshop will help determine “best practices” in quantifying lateral flux.
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the physical, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes that regulate lateral carbon and alkalinity fluxes. The workshop will highlight complementary measurement approaches, including high frequency time‑series observations and concentration modeling in tidal creeks, and tracer-based flux calculations used to distinguish carbon sources and pathways. By addressing different measurement techniques and the spatiotemporal scales they integrate, the workshop will help determine “best practices” in quantifying lateral flux.
Key Takeaways
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
- Understand the dominant controls on lateral DOC, DIC, and TA export from tidal wetlands, including physical, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes.
- Be familiar with leading observational and tracer-based methods for quantifying lateral carbon fluxes and their uncertainties.
- Gain insight into how lateral exports influence coastal ocean carbon cycling and alkalinity dynamics.
- Contribute to community dialogue aimed at developing standardized approaches for scaling lateral carbon fluxes from site to regional scales.
Ultimately, the workshop aims to move the community toward a unified framework for recognizing lateral carbon exports as a critical component of tidal wetland blue carbon and its role in the coastal carbon cycle.
Learning Outcomes:
- Provide participants with foundational knowledge on lateral carbon exports, or outwelling, from tidal wetlands
- Define “best practices” for quantifying lateral carbon fluxes from different measurement techniques
- Identify the unique spatiotemporal scales of consideration for different measurement techniques
- Identify the various environmental (e.g., hydrologic, climatological) drivers that modulate lateral carbon fluxes
- Define how to upscale flux results for comparison to other coastal carbon sources and sinks, and other study sites
- Understand uncertainties and limitations in measurement techniques
Agenda & Engagement Plan:
- Introduction; Foundational knowledge:
- Defining lateral carbon exports, or carbon outwelling, from tidal wetlands
- Recognition of different subsurface pathways as vectors of C
- Biogeochemical processes that modify carbon exports (in subsurface vs surface waters)
- The role of alkalinity and acidity
- Spatiotemporal scales of consideration
- “Best practices” for quantifying lateral carbon fluxes:
- Time-series method
- Field strategies
- Sensor optimization
- Quantifying channelized flow
- Overland flow corrections
- Terrestrial groundwater corrections
- Concentration modeling
- Data integration and uncertainty
- Tracer-based methods
- Field strategies
- Endmember mixing models
- Time-series mass balances
- Basin-scale mass balances
- Model parameterization and uncertainty
- Time-series method
- Discussion
- Spatiotemporal scales of consideration
- Environmental drivers of lateral carbon flux (physical, hydrological, and biogeochemical processes)
- Upscaling results
Learning Focus: Technical Skills for Science
Knowledge & Career Level:
This workshop intends to target any scientist or trainee interested in learning about lateral carbon flux. This includes graduate students, research technicians, early-career scientists, and senior scientists.
Target Audience:
This workshop is designed for marine and coastal scientists, including biogeochemists, chemical oceanographers, ecologists, hydrologists, modelers, and graduate students working in tidal wetlands, estuaries, and nearshore systems. It is also highly relevant for researchers interested in blue carbon accounting, coastal acidification, sea-level rise impacts, and the coupling between terrestrial, atmospheric, and oceanic carbon cycles.
Kroeger and Tamborski both co-convene the AGU session Coastal wetland carbon and nitrogen cycles: Recent advances in measurements, modeling, and syntheses. This session has attracted robust numbers of submissions and attendance each year for more than 10 years, and participants will be our core target audience for this workshop.
Participants:
- Proposal submitters/organizers:
- Kevin Kroeger (Yale)
- Joseph Tamborski (ODU)
- Meagan Eagle (USGS)
- Aleck Wang (WHOI)
- Presenters:
- Kevin Kroeger (Yale), workshop introduction; goals
- Meagan Eagle (USGS), physical, hydrological, biogeochemical processes influencing lateral carbon fluxes
- Aleck Wang (WHOI), time-series method introduction
- Sophie Kuhl (WHOI), on recent time-series lateral flux estimates for 6 unique marshes in Cape Cod, MA
- Joseph Tamborski (ODU), tracer-based method introduction
- Moira Taylor (ODU graduate student in Tamborski lab), on recent tracer-based lateral flux estimates for 6 unique marshes in Cape Cod, MA
- Qipei Shangguan (WHOI), synthesis of high frequency alkalinity export measurements in U.S. marshes
- Patty Oikawa (California State University), mechanistic and data driven modeling of carbon and alkalinity exports
- Kevin Kroeger (Yale), discussion on synthesis, upscaling, additional considerations
Also see the related OCB 2018 workshop: https://www.us-ocb.org/lateral-c-flux-tidal-wetlands/
