Remote sensing of soil ecosystem services

Wetland carbon and nitrogen storage detected by satellite…check it out here! Naveen Anne and his advisor Dr. Amr Abd-Elrahman at the University of Florida turned their remote sensing expertise to ecosystem services provided by the soils of coastal wetlands. Ecosystem services are the free benefits that society gets from nature, and coastal wetlands like mangrove forests and salt marshes provide them in abundance. In particular, coastal wetlands store massive amounts of carbon and nitrogen in rich deposits of soil organic matter, thereby protecting the quality of the atmosphere and ocean water. The Lewis Lab at USF collaborated with Naveen and Amr to develop spectral models of organic matter, carbon, and nitrogen storage in coastal soils. Spectral models predict features of the Earth’s surface based on light detected by remote-sensing instruments such as satellites. These technologies are particularly useful because coastal wetlands are hard to access on foot, but their important services may be sensitive to disturbances ranging from habitat destruction and oil spills to climate change and sea level rise. In this paper, we took remote sensing of soil one step further than past work, by focusing on soil attributes that are particular to the service of carbon and nitrogen storage. Namely, we developed spectral models of portions of organic matter, carbon, and nitrogen that are easily lost from soils. These models could be used to prioritize coastal areas for protection. This work was supported with funds from the US National Science Foundation.