JAMAICA BAY, NEW YORK BLUE CARBON AND ITS HISTORY

The carbon that is sequestered in coastal ecosystems and intertidal marshes is known as “blue carbon.” Due to ongoing coastal development and sea level rise, marshes are being destroyed and their valuable ecosystem services lost. We investigated the depth of several tidal marshes, and analyzed sediment cores to determine the amount of organic matter and carbon sequestered within them. We engaged in field study, and focused on loss-on-ignition (LOI) at three marshes in Jamaica Bay: Yellow Bar, East High Meadow and JoCo. Maps of Jamaica Bay from 250 years to the present are used to determine why there is a shift in organic matter and a decline in non-organic matter within the last estimated 300 years. We uncovered two possible impacts: i) the accretion rate of the Rockaway Spit over the last 250 years has elongated it, limiting the flow of seawater into the bay, and ii) deep dredges that may have altered the water pattern affecting sedimentation within the bay itself.