The Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project

reasonable precision. Salt marsh habitats were however often misclassified (35% accurate) as mangroves, due to the very similar spectral signature given off by these habitats on satellite imagery. Algal mats (38% accurate) were also often misclassified as sabkha or salt marsh, which may reflect the natural succession of habitats over time (the imagery being from 2000 and the field-based sampling having taken place 12 years later). The overall accuracy of the maps was 40%. It is suggested that the significant time gap

between the mapping and the sampling is the main contributor to the discrepancy in remote and field based observations. As a result of these studies, the overall extent of Blue Carbon Ecosystems in Abu Dhabi has been determined and is illustrated in Figure 4.

Figure 4 The extent of selected marine and coastal ecosystems in Abu Dhabi

Ecosystem Extent (ha)

Coastal Sabkha 389,000 associated Blue Carbon ecosystem

Seagrass 158,000

Mangrove 14,000

Algal mat 10,000 candidate Blue Carbon ecosystem

Saltmarsh 4,000

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