U.S. Tidal Wetland Soil Carbon and Estuarine Characteristics

Over 40 years of data from 1972 to 2015 synthesize soil organic carbon stocks and environmental variables for tidal wetlands across the conterminous United States. Compiled by NASA from multiple existing resources, the dataset includes estuary classifications, land cover, water chemistry, and climate metrics for each catchment. This compilation supports analysis of carbon distribution and its correlation with coastal environmental factors.

Use Cases

• Analyzing correlations between soil organic carbon density and environmental variables like ocean salinity, sea surface temperature, and land elevation.
• Mapping the distribution of carbon stocks across six estuarine typologies and different coastal management regimes.
• Modeling nutrient fluxes by integrating data on river flow, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus river flux.
• Assessing land use impact on wetlands using columns for agricultural, urban, forest, and barren land proportions within catchments.
• Studying long-term coastal changes using the 1972-2015 time series of mean temperature, precipitation, and population data.

Strengths

• Covers a 44-year time range (1972-2015) for longitudinal analysis of coastal wetland variables.
• Integrates data from several existing resources, providing a multi-faceted view of estuarine systems.
• Includes classification of estuaries into six distinct typological categories for comparative studies.
• Contains over two dozen specific measured variables, from soil carbon to river flux and population.

Limitations

• Key factual details like row count, file size, and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 2026-03 12 and another 2015-12-31.
• The dataset does not include the analytical results from the original investigation.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Collection Method

Compiled from several existing data resources.

Time Range

1972-2015

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:50:59.985268

Geography

Tidal wetlands within estuaries in the conterminous United States.