Pathways of blue carbon export from kelp and seagrass beds along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia

Coastal vegetated ecosystems are recognized for their role in cycling and storing carbon in the world’s oceans (i.e., blue carbon); however, high uncertainty in carbon sequestration rates is partly due to an absence of studies estimating carbon export to the deep sea. We modeled export from nearshore kelp forests and seagrass beds, showing variability by orders of magnitude across spatial scales (3 to hundreds of kilometers), kelp and seagrass species, seasons, and carbon forms, raising caution in using generalized export rates in blue carbon accounting. Our results also show rapid (20 to 30 days) and extensive export of neutrally buoyant dissolved organic carbon particles to the shelf break (up to 44% within 90 days), contrasting sinking particulate organic carbon particles that largely remained within 100-meter water depth in the nearshore. These results improve estimates of carbon sequestration by blue carbon ecosystems and reveal contrasting patterns of export relative to other regions of the globe.

Cite this data as: Kira A. Krumhansl et al., Pathways of blue carbon export from kelp and seagrass beds along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia.Sci. Adv.11,eadw1952(2025).DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adw1952

Simple

Date ( RI_367 )
2026-03-16
Date ( RI_366 )
2025-12-10
RI_415
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Coastal Ecosystem Science Division (CESD) - Kira Krumhansl ( )
Bedford Institute of Oceanography, 1 Challenger Drive, PO Box 1006 , Dartmouth , Nova Scotia , B2Y 4A2 , Canada
Status
completed; complété RI_593
Maintenance and update frequency
notPlanned; nonPlanifié RI_542
Keywords
  • Kelp
  • Eelgrass
  • Blue carbon
  • Carbon cycling
  • Competitive Science Research Fund (CSRF)
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Aquatic ecosystems
  • Aquatic plants
  • Oceans
Use limitation
Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Classification
unclassified; nonClassifié RI_484
Spatial representation type
vector; vecteur RI_635
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Biota
  • Environment
  • Oceans
Begin date
2018-01
End date
2018-10
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E
W
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Reference system identifier
https://epsg.io / EPSG:4326 /
Distribution format
  • CSV ( 1 )

  • FGDB/GDB ( 2.7.0 )

  • ESRI REST ( 2.9.8 )

  • TXT ( 1 )

  • other ( MATLAB R2020a )

RI_412
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Data Acquisition Assembly and Distribution / Acquisition, assemblage et distribution de donnée ( )
Bedford Institute of Oceanography, 1 Challenger Drive, PO Box 1006 , Dartmouth , Nova Scotia , B2Y 4A2 , Canada
OnLine resource
Simulation outputs from modelling experiments of seagrass dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dispersal ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Simulation outputs from modelling experiments of Saccharina latissima dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dispersal ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Simulation outputs from modelling experiments of Laminaria digitata dissolved organic carbon (DOC) dispersal ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Simulation outputs from modeling experiments of seagrass particulate organic carbon (POC) dispersal ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Simulation outputs from modeling experiments of Saccharina latissima particulate organic carbon (POC) dispersal ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Simulation outputs from modeling experiments of Laminaria digitata particulate organic carbon (POC) dispersal ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Code/Software ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;other;eng

OnLine resource
Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) boundary ( HTTPS )

Dataset;TXT;zxx

OnLine resource
Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) boundary ( HTTPS )

Dataset;FGDB/GDB;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Data dictionary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;CSV;eng,fra

OnLine resource
Pathways of blue carbon export from kelp and seagrass beds along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia ( ESRI REST: Map Service )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Pathways of blue carbon export from kelp and seagrass beds along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia ( ESRI REST: Map Service )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

File identifier
fc697863-12c6-4304-9ec7-2963e9a60cd5 XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2026-03-06T18:56:16.727057Z
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_414
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Coastal Ecosystem Science Division (CESD) - CESD Data Manager / DSEC Gestionnaire de données ( Data Manager )
125 Marine Science Drive , St. Andrews , New Brunswick , E5B 0E4 , Canada
 
 

Overviews

overview
Finite-Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM) boundary

Spatial extent

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Keywords


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