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Coastal marshes, mangroves, and seagrass sequester significant amounts of “blue carbon” in soils, sediments, and biomass. They have potential as a negative emissions technology. With the increasing policy focus on climate change mitigation, we need to understand and accurately predict wetland carbon processes. Complex interactions of climate, land use, sea level, nitrogen pollution, and human management regulate the strength of the carbon sink and the greenhouse gas balance (including CO2, CH4, and N2O). Our ability to measure and model vertical and lateral exchanges, as well as the soil and sediment processes, at the land-ocean interface is limited. We aim to bring together researchers from various disciplines to discuss coastal carbon and nitrogen pools and fluxes, and their roles in global biogeochemical cycling and climate change mitigation. We also aim to report advances in eddy flux, lateral flux, field experiments, remote sensing, modeling, and synthesis that support coastal wetland carbon accounting. 

Coastal marshes, mangroves, and seagrass sequester significant amounts of “blue carbon” in soils, sediments, and biomass. They have potential as a negative emissions technology. With the increasing policy focus on climate change mitigation, we need to understand and accurately predict wetland carbon processes. Complex interactions of climate, land use, sea level, nitrogen pollution, and human management regulate the strength of the carbon sink and the greenhouse gas balance (including CO2, CH4, and N2O). Our ability to measure and model vertical and lateral exchanges, as well as the soil and sediment processes, at the land-ocean interface is limited. We aim to bring together researchers from various disciplines to discuss coastal carbon and nitrogen pools and fluxes, and their roles in global biogeochemical cycling and climate change mitigation. We also aim to report advances in eddy flux, lateral flux, field experiments, remote sensing, modeling, and synthesis that support coastal wetland carbon accounting. 

Abstract Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and analytical approaches have been developed to understand and quantify pools and fluxes of wetland C. Sampling approaches range in their representation of wetland C from short to long timeframes and local to landscape spatial scales. This review summarizes common and cutting-edge methodological approaches for quantifying wetland C pools and fluxes. We firstdefineeach of the major C pools and fluxes and providerationalefor their importance to wetland C dynamics. For each approach, we clarifywhatcomponent of wetland C is measured and its spatial and temporal representativeness and constraints. We describe practical considerations for each approach, such aswhereandwhenan approach is typically used,whocan conduct the measurements (expertise, training requirements), andhowapproaches are conducted, including considerations on equipment complexity and costs. Finally, we reviewkey covariatesandancillary measurementsthat enhance the interpretation of findings and facilitate model development. The protocols that we describe to measure soil, water, vegetation, and gases are also relevant for related disciplines such as ecology. Improved quality and consistency of data collection and reporting across studies will help reduce global uncertainties and develop management strategies to use wetlands as nature-based climate solutions.