Two Lincolnshire salt marshes are to be monitored by the Environment Agency as part of a new UK-wide research project.
The new project will see the installation of flux towers on saltmarshes at RSPB Freiston Shore nature reserve on The Wash near Boston. One tower will be on a natural saltmarsh and the other will be on a restored saltmarsh, this project is in partnership with the RSPB.
The EA has worked in partnership with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology to purchase and install four flux towers on saltmarshes across England. This has been funded by the Defra marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (mNCEA) programme.
Saltmarshes are important ecosystems that provide many valuable services, including habitat for a wide range of creatures. They also act as natural flood defences and help to capture CO2 from the atmosphere to store it in sediments. It is estimated that 85% of UK saltmarsh has been lost since the mid-19th Century.
However, although we know these ecosystems are valuable, there is a lack of data on how saltmarshes capture and store carbon. The towers in Lincolnshire will provide long-term, real-time, data that can help our understanding of how saltmarshes function as carbon sinks now and in the future. Similar towers have previously been used on other types of habitats such as forests and peat bogs. Networks of these towers have provided vital data which has helped to encourage restoration and investment in these ecosystems.
The Environment Agency and UKCEH scientists, in partnership with the Essex Wildlife Trust, have installed another tower in Essex. A further tower will be added in the future. two other towers were installed last year in the Ribble Estuary by Natural England and WWF. In total, these six towers will provide the first in depth look into greenhouse gas storage and emissions in saltmarshes in England. Once the value of these ecosystems has been quantified, we hope this will lead to increased conservation and restoration of saltmarshes.
Dr Ben Green from the Environment Agency said: “These flux towers will improve our understanding of the ability of saltmarsh habitats to sequester carbon across tides, days, seasons and years.
“The evidence they will provide will be key to support the further restoration of saltmarshes, and for the inclusion of these habitats on the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory”.
Dr Ross Morrison, Biometeorologist at UKCEH, added: “Thanks to our new network of coastal flux towers, we’ll provide the first directly measured carbon budgets for a range of different saltmarsh systems across the country by the end of this year, improving our knowledge on how they might help us transition towards our net zero goals. Equally, the flux towers will help us understand how the processes in coastal environments function today, and how things may change into the future.”
UKCEH is leading a consortium across charity, finance and academic sectors to develop and pilot a UK Saltmarsh Carbon Code. This rigorous and scientifically-based voluntary certification standard will enable saltmarsh carbon to be confidently purchased, thus providing an income stream for restoration projects and supporting the achievement of national Net Zero goals.
Toby Collett from the RSPB, said: “The Wash estuary and the saltmarshes here are globally important for wildlife, but they are also vital for our way of life, whether that’s fishing, protecting communities from flooding or storing carbon.
“We’re really excited that Freiston Shore is being used to understand more about these superpower habitats, and hope that this will lead to further protection and restoration efforts for saltmarshes across the UK.”
