Seagrass carbon stock estimation in Panrangluhu coastal waters using remote sensing technology

Seagrass has many important roles, including in storing carbon in their biomass. However, information on carbon stock in seagrass in Indonesian waters is still very little, including the Panrangluhu coastal waters. This study aims to estimate the carbon storage of seagrass in Panrangluhu coastal waters using remote sensing technology and Level 1C Sentinel-2A imagery. The image was initially processed before unsupervised classification and a map of seagrass conditions classficiation (poor, unhealthy and healthy) was produced. Based on the map, field observation was conducted by choosing a random sampling location to estimate seagrass conditon and sample biomass. Measurement of oceanographic parameters (temperature and salinity) were also conducted. Samples were taken to the laboratory to calculate biomass and carbon content in order to estimate carbon stocks and create carbon stock maps. The results showed that the highest carbon stock for aboveground biomass of was Syringodium isoetifolium (7.16 gC / m2) and the lowest was Halophila ovalis (1.24gC / m2). Meanwhile, the highest belowground biomass was Enhalus acoroides (26.50 gC / m2) and the lowest was Halophila ovalis (5.56 gC / m2). The total carbon stock in Panrangluhu coastal waters was 19.97 tonnes.