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The topography of eastern Africa, namely, the Ethiopian Highlands and Marrah Mountains have been shown to play a key role in the genesis of African Easterly Waves (AEWs) through convective initiation in that region. Topographic influences on the African Easterly Jet, evolution and energetics of AEWs, and rainfall production across northern tropical Africa are examined here. The Weather Research and Forecasting model is employed to simulate the climate over a 60‐day period for three years (2004, 2005, and 2006) for three cases with varying topography: realistic, half‐height, and no topography. An energetics analysis for the resulting AEWs reveals that wave development by barotropic and baroclinic processes weakens when topography is flattened. These results show that topography in Africa plays a significant role in the wave development as they propagate westward, not only in their initiation over East Africa.

We mapped tidal wetland gross primary production (GPP) with unprecedented detail for multiple wetland types across the continental United States (CONUS) at 16‐day intervals for the years 2000–2019. To accomplish this task, we developed the spatially explicit Blue Carbon (BC) model, which combined tidal wetland cover and field‐based eddy covariance tower data into a single Bayesian framework, and used a super computer network and remote sensing imagery (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Enhanced Vegetation Index). We found a strong fit between the BC model and eddy covariance data from 10 different towers (r²= 0.83,p< 0.001, root‐mean‐square error = 1.22 g C/m²/day, average error was 7% with a mean bias of nearly zero). When compared with NASA's MOD17 GPP product, which uses a generalized terrestrial algorithm, the BC model reduced error by approximately half (MOD17 hadr²= 0.45,p< 0.001, root‐mean‐square error of 3.38 g C/m²/day, average error of 15%). The BC model also included mixed pixels in areas not covered by MOD17, which comprised approximately 16.8% of CONUS tidal wetland GPP. Results showed that across CONUS between 2000 and 2019, the average daily GPP per m²was 4.32 ± 2.45 g C/m²/day. The total annual GPP for the CONUS was 39.65 ± 0.89 Tg C/year. GPP for the Gulf Coast was nearly double that of the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts combined. Louisiana alone accounted for 15.78 ± 0.75 Tg C/year, with its Atchafalaya/Vermillion Bay basin at 4.72 ± 0.14 Tg C/year. The BC model provides a robust platform for integrating data from disparate sources and exploring regional trends in GPP across tidal wetlands.