Recent studies have advanced our understanding of major terms in the carbon budget of the coastal ocean, including riverine inspect to estuaries, exchange between the major aquatic reservoirs, sediment burial, air-sea exchange, primary proud action and respiration. However, gaps remain in quantifying carbon fluxes and associated uncertainties at key interfaces in the coastal zone such as the marsh-estuary interface This presentation will provide highlights from an ongoing study that is measuring the amounts, sources, and composition of dissolved and particulate organic carbon exchanged at the marsh-estuarine interface of a representative temperate system, Taskinas Creek over approx 2 years, to determine the concentrations and sources of carbon pools over a range of timescales (e.g. tidal, monthly, seasonal). Concentrations of three carbon pools were determined: particulate organic carbon (POC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Sources of POC were determined using lipid biomarker compounds (fatty acids and n-alkanes), stable isotopes and C:N nations, while optical properties and C:N talons were used to study the source, composition and degradation state of DOC. Results from this study reinforce uncertainties in the carbon budget at the marsh-estuary and the need to better understand variation sin carbon exchange in marsh and estuarine environments in order to estimate their roles as sources and sinks for anthropogenic carbon.
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