Scotland installs first saltmarsh carbon flux tower — SkimNews
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- UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (with the Scottish government, NatureScot, and WWF-UK) installed Scotland's first saltmarsh flux tower at Caerlaverock on the Solway Firth, which NatureScot's Corallie Hunt called an "important milestone".
- UKCEH wetland scientist Annette Burden said the Solway tower is the most northerly addition to a network of flux towers around the UK coast, and its data will inform whether saltmarshes are included in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
- About 85% of UK saltmarshes have been lost since the mid-19th Century through land reclamation, pollution, and erosion — a figure cited in the piece to underscore the urgency of monitoring what remains.
- The tower measures carbon exchange in real time, capturing CO2 drawn down by marsh plants through photosynthesis plus carbon-rich sediments trapped in roots and stems on incoming tides.
- WWF's Tom Brook framed saltmarshes as multi-value habitats: they support thousands of migratory birds and rare natterjack toads while absorbing wave energy and reducing flooding and storm surge impacts for coastal communities.
Why it matters: The tower's real-time data will strengthen calls to protect and restore a UK ecosystem that has lost 85% of its extent since the mid-19th century, and provide evidence for including saltmarshes in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The project also documents saltmarshes' flood-defence role — absorbing wave energy and buffering storm surges — directly benefiting coastal communities on the Solway.
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