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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, carrying NASA’s EZIE spacecraft into orbit. SpaceX Under the nighttime California sky, NASA’s EZIE (Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer) mission launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:43 p.m. PDT on March 14.
Taking off from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara, the EZIE mission’s trio of small satellites will fly in a pearls-on-a-string configuration approximately 260 to 370 miles above Earth’s surface to map the auroral electrojets, powerful electric currents that flow through our upper atmosphere in the polar regions where auroras glow in the sky.
At approximately 2 a.m. PDT on March 15, the EZIE satellites were successfully deployed. Within the next 10 days, the spacecraft will send signals to verify they are in good health and ready to embark on their 18-month mission.
“NASA has leaned into small missions that can provide compelling science while accepting more risk. EZIE represents excellent science being executed by an excellent team, and it is delivering exactly what NASA is looking for,” said Jared Leisner, program executive for EZIE at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The electrojets — and their visible counterparts, theauroras — are generated duringsolar storms when tremendous amounts of energy get transferred into Earth’s upper atmosphere from the solar wind. Each of the EZIE spacecraft will map the electrojets, advancing our understanding of the physics of how Earth interacts with its surrounding space. This understanding will apply not only to our own planet but also to any magnetized planet in our solar system and beyond. The mission will also help scientists create models for predicting space weather to mitigate its disruptive impacts on our society.
“It is truly incredible to see our spacecraft flying and making critical measurements, marking the start of an exciting new chapter for the EZIE mission,” said Nelli Mosavi-Hoyer, project manager for EZIE at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “I am very proud of the dedication and hard work of our team. This achievement is a testament to the team’s perseverance and expertise, and I look forward to the valuable insights EZIE will bring to our understanding of Earth’s electrojets and space weather.”
Instead of using propulsion to control their polar orbit, the spacecraft will actively use drag experienced while flying through the upper atmosphere to individually tune their spacing. Each successive spacecraft will fly over the same region 2 to 10 minutes after the former.
“Missions have studied these currents before, but typically either at the very large or very small scales,” said Larry Kepko, EZIE mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “EZIE will help us understand how these currents form and evolve, at scales we’ve never probed.”
The mission team is also working to distribute magnetometer kits called EZIE-Mag, which are available to teachers, students, and science enthusiasts who want to take their own measurements of the Earth-space electrical current system. EZIE-Mag data will be combined with EZIE measurements made from space to assemble a clear picture of this vast electrical current circuit.
The EZIE mission is funded by the Heliophysics Division within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA Goddard. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory leads the mission for NASA. Blue Canyon Technologies in Boulder, Colorado, built the CubeSats, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built the Microwave Electrojet Magnetogram, which will map the electrojets, for each of the three satellites.
For the latest mission updates, follow NASA’s EZIE blog.
By Brett Molina
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
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Last Updated Mar 15, 2025 Editor Vanessa Thomas Contact Sarah Frazier sarah.frazier@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. (Credit: NASA) Four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT Friday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Shortly after docking, the crew will join Expedition 72/73 for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.
“Congratulations to our NASA and SpaceX teams on the 10th crew rotation mission under our commercial crew partnership. This milestone demonstrates NASA’s continued commitment to advancing American leadership in space and driving growth in our national space economy,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “Through these missions, we are laying the foundation for future exploration, from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. Our international crew will contribute to innovative science research and technology development, delivering benefits to all humanity.”
During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA’s live coverage resumes at 9:45 p.m., March 15, on NASA+ with rendezvous, docking, and hatching opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for offload before opening the hatch between Dragon and the space station’s Harmony module around 1:05 a.m., Sunday, March 16. Once the new crew is aboard the orbital outpost, NASA will broadcast welcome remarks from Crew-10 and farewell remarks from the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 crew, beginning at about 1:40 a.m.
Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 for a short time as Crew-10 joins NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Don Pettit, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner. Following a brief handover period, Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov will return to Earth no earlier than Wednesday, March 19.Ahead of Crew-9’s departure from station, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of Florida.
During their mission, Crew-10 is scheduled to conduct material flammability tests to contribute to future spacecraft and facility designs. The crew will engage with students worldwide via the ISS Ham Radio program and use the program’s existing hardware to test a backup lunar navigation solution. The astronauts also will serve as test subjects, with one crew member conducting an integrated study to better understand physiological and psychological changes to the human body to provide valuable insights for future deep space missions.
With this mission, NASA continues to maximize the use of the orbiting laboratory, where people have lived and worked continuously for more than 24 years, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and explore farther from our home planet. Research conducted at the space station benefits people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration missions to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign and beyond.
More about Crew-10
McClain is the commander of Crew-10 and is making her second trip to the orbital outpost since her selection as an astronaut in 2013. She will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73 aboard the space station. Follow McClain on X.
Ayers is the pilot of Crew-10 and is flying her first mission. Selected as an astronaut in 2021, Ayers will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73. Follow Ayers on X and Instagram.
Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his second flight to the space station. He will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73. Follow Onishi on X.
Peskov is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his first flight to the space station. Peskov will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.
Learn more about NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission and the agency’s Commercial Crew Program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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By NASA
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A super pressure balloon with the EUSO-2 payload is prepared for launch from Wānaka, New Zealand, during NASA’s campaign in 2023.NASA/Bill Rodman NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Wānaka, New Zealand, for two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology. These stadium-sized, heavy-lift balloons will travel the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes for planned missions of 100 days or more.
Launch operations are scheduled to begin in late March from Wānaka Airport, NASA’s dedicated launch site for mid-latitude, ultra long-duration balloon missions.
“We are very excited to return to New Zealand for this campaign to officially flight qualify the balloon vehicle for future science investigations,” said Gabriel Garde, chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. “Our dedicated team both in the field and at home has spent years in preparation for this opportunity, and it has been through their hard work, fortitude, and passion that we are back and fully ready for the upcoming campaign.”
While the primary flight objective is to test and qualify the super pressure balloon technology, the flights will also host science missions and technology demonstrations. The High-altitude Interferometer Wind Observation (HIWIND), led by High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, will fly as a mission of opportunity on the first flight. The HIWIND payload will measure neutral wind in the part of Earth’s atmosphere called the thermosphere. Understanding these winds will help scientists predict changes in the ionosphere, which can affect communication and navigation systems. The second flight will support several piggyback missions of opportunity, or smaller payloads, including:
Compact Multichannel Imaging Camera (CoMIC), led by University of Massachusetts Lowell, will study and measure how Earth’s atmosphere scatters light at high altitudes and will measure airglow, specifically the red and green emissions. High-altitude Infrasound from Geophysical Sources (HIGS), led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, will measure atmospheric pressure to collect signals of geophysical events on Earth such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. These signals will help NASA as it develops the ability to measure seismic activity on Venus from high-altitude balloons. Measuring Ocean Acoustics North of Antarctica (MOANA), led by Sandia National Laboratories and Swedish Institute of Space Physics, aims to capture sound waves in Earth’s stratosphere with frequencies below the limit of human hearing. NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility is leading two technology demonstrations on the flight. The INterim Dynamics Instrumentation for Gondolas (INDIGO) is a data recorder meant to measure the shock of the gondola during the launch, termination, and landing phases of flight. The Sensor Package for Attitude, Rotation, and Relative Observable Winds – 7 (SPARROW-7), will demonstrate relative wind measurements using an ultrasonic device designed for the balloon float environment that measures wind speed and direction. NASA’s 18.8-million-cubic-foot (532,000-cubic-meter) helium-filled super pressure balloon, when fully inflated, is roughly the size of Forsyth-Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, which has a seating capacity of more than 35,000. The balloon will float at an altitude of around 110,000 feet (33.5 kilometers), more than twice the altitude of a commercial airplane. Its flight path is determined by the speed and direction of wind at its float altitude.
The balloon is a closed system design to prevent gas release. It offers greater stability at float altitude with minimum altitude fluctuations during the day to night cycle compared to a zero pressure balloon. This capability will enable future missions to affordably access the near-space environment for long-duration science and technology research from the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes, including nighttime observations.
The public is encouraged to follow real-time tracking of the balloons’ paths as they circle the globe on the agency’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website. Launch and tracking information will be shared across NASA’s social media platforms and the NASA Wallops blog.
NASA’s return to Wānaka marks the sixth super pressure balloon campaign held in New Zealand since the agency began balloon operations there in 2015. The launches are conducted in collaboration with the Queenstown Airport Corporation, Queenstown Lake District Council, New Zealand Space Agency, and Airways New Zealand.
“We are especially grateful to our local hosts, partners, and collaborators who have been with us from the beginning and are critical to the success of these missions and this campaign,” said Garde.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia manages the agency’s scientific balloon flight program with 10 to 16 flights each year from launch sites worldwide. Peraton, which operates NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, provides mission planning, sustaining engineering services, and field operations for NASA’s scientific balloon program. The Columbia team has launched more than 1,700 scientific balloons over some 40 years of operations. NASA’s balloons are fabricated by Aerostar. The NASA Scientific Balloon Program is funded by the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics Division.
For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit:
www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons.
By Olivia Littleton
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
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By NASA
Earth (ESD) Earth Explore Explore Earth Science Climate Change Air Quality Science in Action Multimedia Image Collections Videos Data For Researchers About Us 6 Min Read NASA Data Supports Everglades Restoration
Mangroves blanket roughly 600 square miles of South Florida’s coastal terrain. This dense grove — one of the largest in the world — is the ecological backbone of the Everglades system. This story is the second installment of a series on NASA’s mission to measure greenhouse gases in Florida’s mangrove ecosystem. Read the first part here.
Along the southernmost rim of the Florida Peninsula, the arching prop roots of red mangroves line the coast. Where they dip below the water’s surface, fish lay their eggs, using the protection from predators that the trees provide. Among their branches, wading birds like the great blue heron and the roseate spoonbill find rookeries to rear their young. The tangled matrix of roots collects organic matter and ocean-bound sediments, adding little by little to the coastline and shielding inland biology from the erosive force of the sea.
In these ways, mangroves are equal parts products and engineers of their environment. But their ecological value extends far beyond the coastline.
Tropical wetlands absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere with impressive efficiency. Current estimates suggest they sequester carbon dioxide 10 times faster and store up to five times more carbon than old-growth forests. But as part of the ever-changing line between land and sea, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to disturbances like sea level rise, hurricanes, and changes in ocean salinity. As these threats intensify, Florida’s wetlands — and their role as a critical sink for carbon dioxide — face an uncertain future.
A new data product developed by NASA-funded researchers will help monitor from space the changing relationship between coastal wetlands and atmospheric carbon. It will deliver daily measurements of gaseous flux — the rate at which gas is exchanged between the planet’s surface and atmosphere. The goal is to improve local and global estimates of carbon dioxide levels and help stakeholders evaluate wetland restoration efforts.
NASA measures carbon dioxide from ground, air and space
At SRS-6, an eddy covariance tower measures carbon dioxide and methane flux among a dense grove of red, black, and white mangroves. (The term eddy covariance refers to the statistical technique used to calculate gaseous flux based on the meteorological and scalar atmospheric data collected by the flux towers.) Credits: NASA / Nathan Marder In the Everglades, flux measurements have historically relied on data from a handful of “flux towers.” The first of these towers was erected in June 2003, not far from the edge of Shark River at a research site known as SRS-6. A short walk from the riverbank, across a snaking path of rain-weathered, wooden planks, sits a small platform where the tower is anchored to the forest floor. Nearly 65 feet above the platform, a suite of instruments continuously measures wind velocity, temperature, humidity, and concentrations of atmospheric gases. These measurements are used to quantify the amount of carbon dioxide that wetland vegetation removes from the atmosphere — and the amount of methane released.
“Hundreds of research papers have come from this site,” said David Lagomasino, a professor of coastal ecology at East Carolina University. The abundance of research born from SRS-6 underscores its scientific value. But the BlueFlux campaign is committed to detailing flux across a much larger area — to fill in the gaps between the towers.
A true-color image of South Florida captured by the MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite. The area of Earth’s surface that the instrument’s sensors can “see” at one time — its swath — has a width of roughly 1,448 miles. Areas where primary BlueFlux fieldwork deployments occurred are marked with red triangles. NASA/ Nathan Marder Part of NASA’s new greenhouse-gas product is a machine-learning model that estimates gaseous flux using observations made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites. The MODIS instruments capture images and data of South Florida every one to two days, measuring the wavelength of sunlight reflected by the planet’s surface to produce a dataset called surface spectral reflectance.
Different surfaces — like water, vegetation, sand, or decaying organic matter — reflect different wavelengths of light. With the help of some advanced statistical algorithms, modelers can use these measurements to generate a grid of real-time flux data.
To help ensure the satellite-based model is making accurate predictions, researchers compare its outputs to measurements made on the ground. But with only a handful of flux towers in the region, ground-based flux data can be hard to come by.
To augment existing datasets, NASA researchers use a relatively new airborne technique for measuring flux. Since April 2022, NASA’s airborne science team has conducted 34 flights equipped with a payload known colloquially as “CARAFE,” short for the CARbon Airborne Flux Experiment. The CARAFE instrument measures concentrations of methane, carbon dioxide, and water vapor, generating readings that researchers combine with information about the plane’s speed and orientation to estimate rates of gaseous flux at fixed points along each flight’s path.
“This is one of the first times an instrument like this has flown over a mangrove forest anywhere in the world,” said Lola Fatoyinbo, a forest ecologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Erin Delaria, a research scientist at the University of Maryland, monitors live, in-flight readings made by the CARbon Airborne Flux Experiment (CARAFE), the instrument package responsible for measuring atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor concentrations above the wetland landscape. These data — along with information like the plane’s speed, flight path, and humidity levels — allow researchers to calculate flux at fixed points along the flight’s path. NASA/ Nathan Marder Early findings from space-based flux data confirm that, in addition to acting as a sink of carbon dioxide, tropical wetlands are a significant source of methane — a greenhouse gas that traps heat roughly 80 times more efficiently than carbon dioxide. In fact, researchers estimate that Florida’s entire wetland expanse produces enough methane to offset the benefits of wetland carbon removal by about 5%.
“There are also significant differences in fluxes between healthy mangroves and degraded ones,” Fatoyinbo said. In areas where mangrove forests are suffering, say after a major hurricane, “you end up with more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” As wetland ecology responds to intensifying natural and human pressures, the data product will help researchers precisely monitor the impact of ecological changes on global carbon dioxide and methane levels.
‘We need this reliable science’
The Everglades today are roughly half their original size — primarily the result of a century’s worth of uninterrupted land development and wetland drainage projects. It’s difficult to quantify the impact of wetland losses at this scale. Florida’s tropical wetlands aren’t just an important reminder of the beauty and richness of the state’s natural history. They’re also a critical reservoir of atmospheric carbon and a source of drinking water for millions of South Florida residents.
“We know how valuable the wetlands are, but we need this reliable science to help translate their benefits into something that can reach people and policymakers,” said Steve Davis, chief science officer for the Everglades Foundation, a non-profit organization in Miami-Dade County that provides scientific research and advocacy in an effort to protect and restore the Everglades.
As new policies and infrastructure are designed to support Everglades restoration, researchers hope NASA’s daily flux product will help local officials evaluate their restoration efforts in real time — and adjust the course as needed.
The prototype of the product, called Daily Flux Predictions for South Florida, is slated for release this year and will be available through NASA’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).
By Nathan Marder
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
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8 min read NASA Researchers Study Coastal Wetlands, Champions of Carbon Capture
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Florida’s coastal wetlands are a complex patchwork of ecosystem — consisting of sawgrass marshland, hardwood hammocks, freshwater swamps, and mangrove forests. Credits:
NASA/ Nathan Marder Across the street from the Flamingo Visitor’s Center at the foot of Florida’s Everglades National Park, there was once a thriving mangrove population — part of the largest stand of mangroves in the Western Hemisphere. Now, the skeletal remains of the trees form one of the Everglades’ largest ghost forests.
When Hurricane Irma made landfall in September 2017 as a category 4 storm, violent winds battered the shore and a storm surge swept across the coast, decimating large swaths of mangrove forest. Seven years later, most of the mangroves here haven’t seen any new growth. “At this point, I doubt they’ll recover,” said David Lagomasino, a professor of coastal studies at East Carolina University.
Lagomasino was in the Everglades conducting fieldwork as part of NASA’s BlueFlux Campaign, a three-year project that aims to study how sub-tropical wetlands influence atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. Both gases absorb solar radiation and have a warming effect on Earth’s atmosphere.
A mangrove “ghost forest” near Florida’s southernmost coast houses the remains of a once-thriving mangrove stand. NASA/Nathan Marder The campaign is led by Ben Poulter, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who studies the way human activity and climate change affect the carbon cycle. As wetland vegetation responds to increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and severe weather, Poulter’s team is trying to determine how much carbon dioxide wetland vegetation removes from the atmosphere and how much methane it produces. Ultimately this research will help scientists develop models to estimate and monitor greenhouse gas concentrations in coastal areas around the globe.
Although coastal wetlands account for less than 2% of the planet’s land-surface area, they remove a significant amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Florida’s coastal wetlands alone remove an estimated 31.8 million metric tons each year. A commercial aircraft would have to circle the globe more than 26,000 times to produce the same amount of carbon dioxide. Coastal wetlands also store carbon in marine sediments, keeping it underground — and out of the atmosphere — for thousands of years. This carbon storage capacity of oceans and wetlands is so robust that it has its own name: blue carbon.
“We’re worried about losing that stored carbon,” Poulter said. “But blue carbon also offers tremendous opportunities for climate mitigation if conservation and restoration are properly supported by science.”
The one-meter core samples collected by Lagomasino will be used to identify historic rates of blue carbon development in mangrove forests and to evaluate how rates of carbon storage respond to specific environmental pressures, like sea level rise or the increasing frequency of tropical cyclones.
Early findings from space-based flux data confirm that, in addition to acting as a sink of carbon dioxide, tropical wetlands are a significant source of methane — a greenhouse gas that traps heat roughly 80 times more efficiently than carbon dioxide. In fact, researchers estimate that Florida’s entire wetland expanse produces enough methane to offset the benefits of wetland carbon removal by about 5%.
Everglades peat contains history of captured carbon
During his most recent fieldwork deployment, Lagomasino used a small skiff to taxi from one research site to the next; many parts of the Everglades are virtually unreachable on foot. At each site, he opened a broad, black case and removed a metallic peat auger, which resembles a giant letter opener. The instrument is designed to extract core samples from soft soils. Everglades peat — which is composed almost entirely of the carbon-rich, partially decomposed roots, stems, and leaves of mangroves — offers a perfect study subject.
Lagomasino plunged the auger into the soil, using his body weight to push the instrument into the ground. Once the sample was secured, he freed the tool from the Earth, presenting a half-cylinder of soil. Each sample was sealed and shipped back to the lab — where they are sliced horizontally into flat discs and analyzed for their age and carbon content.
East Carolina University professor of coastal studies David Lagomasino (right) and his doctoral student Daystar Babanawo explore the Everglades by boat. The plant life here consists almost entirely of mangroves, which can withstand the saltwater tides that characterize coastal wetlands. Scientific studies of Florida’s coastal ecosystems have historically been limited by the relative inaccessibility of the region. NASA/Nathan Marder Everglades peat forms quickly. In Florida’s mangrove forests, around 2 to 10 millimeters of soil are added to the forest floor each year, building up over time like sand filling an hourglass. Much like an ice core, sediment cores offer a window into Earth’s past. The deeper the core, the further into the past one can see. By looking closely at the contents of the soil, researchers can uncover information about the climate conditions from the time the soil formed.
In some parts of the Everglades, soil deposits can reach depths of up to 3 meters (10 feet), where one meter might represent close to 100 years of peat accumulation, Lagomasino said. Deep in the Amazon rainforest, by comparison, a similarly sized, one-meter deposit could take more than 1,000 years to develop. This is important in the context of restoration efforts: in coastal wetlands, peat losses can be restored up to 10 times faster than they might be in other forest types.
Lagomasino holds a sample of peat soil collected from the forest floor. The source of the soil’s elevated carbon content — evident from its coarse, fibrous texture — is primarily the thread-like root hairs routinely recycled by the surrounding mangroves. The presence of water slows the decomposition of this organic material, which is why wetlands can lock carbon away and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere for thousands of years. NASA/Nathan Marder “There are also significant differences in fluxes between healthy mangroves and degraded ones,” said Lola Fatoyinbo, a research scientist in the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. In areas where mangrove forests are suffering, for example, after a major hurricane, “you end up with more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” she said. As wetland ecology responds to intensifying natural and human pressures, the data product will help researchers precisely monitor the impact of ecological changes on global carbon dioxide and methane levels.
Wetland methane: A naturally occurring but potent greenhouse gas
Methane is naturally produced by microbes that live in wetland soils. But as wetland conditions change, the growth rate of methane-producing microbes can spike, releasing the gas into the atmosphere at prodigious rates.
Since methane is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, possessing a warming potential 84 times greater over a 25-year period, methane emissions undermine some of the beneficial services that blue carbon ecosystems provide as natural sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide.
While Lagomasino studied the soil to understand long-term storage of greenhouse gases, Lola Fatoyinbo, a research scientist in NASA’s Biospheric Sciences Lab, and Peter Raymond, an ecologist at Yale University’s School of the Environment, measured the rate at which these gases are exchanged between wetland vegetation and the atmosphere. This metric is known as gaseous flux.
Lagomasino holds a sample of peat soil collected from the forest floor. The presence of water slows the decomposition of this organic material, which is why wetlands can lock carbon away and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere for thousands of years. NASA/Nathan Marder NASA/Nathan Marder The scientists measure flux using chambers designed to adhere neatly to points where significant rates of gas exchange occur. They secure box-like chambers to above-ground roots and branches while domed chambers measure gas escaping from the forest floor. The concentration of gases trapped in each chamber is measured over time.
In general, as the health of wetland ecology declines, less carbon dioxide is removed, and more methane is released. But the exact nature of the relationship between wetland health and gaseous flux is not well understood. What does flux look like in ghost forests, for example? And how do more subtle changes in variables like canopy coverage or species distribution influence levels of carbon dioxide sequestration or methane production?
“We’re especially interested in the methane part,” Fatoyinbo said. “It’s the least understood, and there’s a lot more of it than we previously thought.”
Based on data collected during BlueFlux fieldwork, “we’re finding that coastal wetlands remove massive amounts of carbon dioxide and produce substantial amounts of methane,” Poulter said. “But overall, these ecosystems appear to provide a net climate benefit, removing more greenhouse gases than they produce.” That could change as Florida’s wetlands respond to continued climate disturbances.
The future of South Florida’s ecology
Florida’s wetlands are roughly 5,000 years old. But in just the past century, more than half of the state’s original wetland coverage has been lost as vegetation was cleared and water was drained to accommodate the growing population. The Everglades system now contains 65% less peat and 77% less stored carbon than it did prior to drainage. The future of the ecosystem — which is not only an important reservoir for atmospheric carbon, but a source of drinking water for more than 7 million Floridians and a home to flora and fauna found nowhere else on Earth — is uncertain.
Scientists who have dedicated their careers to understanding and restoring South Florida’s ecology are hopeful. “Nature and people can coexist,” said Meenakshi Chabba, an ecologist and resilience scientist at the Everglades Foundation in Florida’s Miami-Dade County. “But we need good science and good management to reach that goal.”
The next step for NASA’s BlueFlux campaign is the development of a satellite-based data product that can help regional stakeholders evaluate in real-time how Florida’s wetlands are responding to restoration efforts designed to protect one of the state’s most precious natural resources — and all those who depend on it.
By Nathan Marder
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
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Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Earth
Your home. Our Mission. And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other.
Climate Change
NASA is a global leader in studying Earth’s changing climate.
Explore Earth Science
Earth Science in Action
NASA’s unique vantage point helps us inform solutions to enhance decision-making, improve livelihoods, and protect our planet.
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