Microtopographic impacts on greenhouse gas fluxes in low-relief forested tidal wetlands

Keywords: Microtopography, LiDAR, GHG emissions, Forests, Wetland
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

Microtopography plays an important role in various ecological, hydrologic, and biogeochemical processes but quantifying microtopography is data intensive. Over the last decade, high-resolution remote sensing data and techniques have emerged as powerful tools to quantify microtopography. The availability of wide-area aerial LiDAR data and cost-effective small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) or drone-based technologies and terrestrial LiDAR has helped in furthering research examining microtopography in a variety of environments. The objective of this paper is to quantify microtopography with aerial and terrestrial LiDAR and assess its impact on greenhouse gas emissions. We used the process-based model TFW-DNDC to quantify methane and carbon dioxide emissions with respect to the microtopography and found the terrestrial LiDAR-based microtopographic model more suitable for the emissions estimation. Our results show that by understanding the microtopography at a fine scale we can refine our understanding of its impact on ecological drivers and carbon dynamics in the tidal freshwater forested wetlands.