Heat energy balance in coastal wetlands

PICCOLO, M.C.

Coastal wetlands: An integrated ecosystem approach.

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2009; p. 211 - 229

Relatively few studies have been conducted on heat exchanges in coastal wetlands. Yet, an understanding of how heat is transferred across air–sea–soil interfaces is fundamental to predicting, for example, how coastal wetlands will respond to global climate change. Coastal wetlands develop particularly steep chemical and hydrological gradients as a result of their position between continents and the ocean. Unlike vertical fluxes that dominate exchanges in upland ecosystems, the exchange of matter and energy in coastal wetlands is complicated by strong horizontal fluxes, particularly those driven by water movement. This chapter reviews studies that have contributed to understanding of how heat energy is transferred across the different levels of these fluid and solid interfaces, and how this energy affects different biological and chemical processes.