Fluxes Across Interfaces

Our coastal waters lie at the interface between land and sea. They play a vital role in the conversion, storage and release of carbon and are therefore a central element in the global carbon cycle. Coastal regions are also important living environments for a growing number of people all over the world. Humans make many competing demands on utilization of the spatially limited coastal area. This includes ecosystem services such as food production or carbon storage. The “Fluxes Across Coastal Interfaces” department researches how we can find a balance between these societal demands and maintain natural processes, especially in regard to the carbon cycle. Our research helps in making the proper decisions to manage different coastal regions in such a way that they sequester net carbon from the atmosphere in the future. We measure and model the exchange of carbon and other substances across ecosystem boundaries (air-water, sediment-water) and use this information to create detailed budgets as to when, where and why net carbon storage occurs or could occur.