Carbon cycle study—White River and Big Creek wetlands

The goal of this carbon cycle study is to:

better understand wetland carbon uptake and losses to the atmosphere across watersheds
evaluate wetland carbon’s usefulness as a natural climate solution

Study sites

Study sites for this project are:

Big Creek Watershed in Southern Ontario
White River in the experimental forest area in Northern Ontario

We chose these sites to represent relatively data-scarce regions of Ontario, and locations that represent:

recently restored wetland
an undisturbed wetland

These locations can show how wetlands can act as natural climate solutions.

Wetlands and climate change

Wetlands absorb and release atmospheric carbon as plants grow and decompose. If wetlands absorb more carbon than they release, they can act as natural climate solutions.

Wetland restoration and wetland preservation:

promotes carbon uptake by wetlands in Ontario
slows future climate warming

Wetland carbon exchange with the atmosphere varies immensely across space and time. These continuous measurements are used to:

calculate the amount of carbon moving between the air, plants and soils of wetlands
improve numerical models that will help us predict how wetland carbon exchanges might respond to climate warming at these locations and other locations

Download the study data

We submit this data to Ameriflux, which is a network of sites measuring ecosystem CO2, water and energy fluxes in North, Central and South America.

You can download the data from Ameriflux.

Ministry contact: Carlos Barreto

Additional information

Tags: Environmental and N... Environmental and Natural Resources

carbon carbon

methane methane

greenhouse gases greenhouse gases

wetland wetland

restoration restoration

fen fen
Geographic coverage: Big Creek and White River
Source URL/Address: https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/
Maintainer: Carlos Barreto
Author: Carlos Barreto
Author Email: Carlos Barreto
Maintainer branch: Science and Research Branch
Last Validated Date: August 2, 2024
Update frequency: Yearly
Access instructions: Data is available on the Ameriflux website. Create a free account on the site to download data.