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A Subsoil Inspection in a Mangrove Habitat Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography58Marine Research of the National Academy of Marine ResearchDOI: 10.29677/MR.202406_4(1).0005 As the world faces the threat of climate change, the contribution of coastal blue carbon to mitigate climate change has become increasingly significant. According to the research by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, the carbon sequestration rate of coastal bluecarbon ecosystems is three to five times that of tropical forests, making a significant contribution to the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Brodeur et al., 2022). Minimal research has been conducted on the organic carbon stock in the soils of mangroves in Taiwan. This study could be the first to introduce the ERT approach, a commonly-used near-surface geophysical detecting technique, for mapping the subsoil organic carbon in mangroves. Coastal blue carbon ecosystems account for about 0.5fi of the global sea area, but contribute more than 50fi of the marine organic carbon in the soil. This suggests that coastal blue carbon ecosystems can preserve high amounts of organic carbon through highly efficient carbon burial processes. In addition, the soils of coastal blue carbon ecosystems are anaerobic for a long time, thus hindering the quick degradation of organiccarbon. Therefore, the soil carbon of coastal blue carbon ecosystems can be stored more efficiently than that of terrestrial forests, also known as green carbon (Lin et al., 2023). The soil carbon stock may account for more than 80fi of the total carbon stock in the mangroves. Restoring and managing the soil carbon stock ofmangroves are considered natural-based solutions (NBSs) to mitigate climate change, helping Taiwan reach the national goal of net zero emissions in 2050.1 INTRODUCTION2 COASTAL BLUE CARBON ECOSYSTEMS Compared with green carbon in forests, blue carbon is a relatively new term that only began to be used in2009, and refers to organic carbon stored in marine ecosystems. Coastal blue carbon ecosystems are important transition areas connecting land, ocean, and even freshwater; these include mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass beds. These coastal blue carbon ecosystems provide and support important ecosystem services, such as coastline protection, water quality improvement, regulation of matter and energy flow, nutrient recycling, fishery resources, essential habitats and food for wildlife, fish, and invertebrates, etc. Their services in culture, aesthetics, leisure, and entertainment also play an important role for humanity (Brix, 1997; Mumby et al., 2004). Organic carbon is often stored in the soils and plant tissues in coastal blue carbon ecosystems (Mcleod et al., 2011). Particularly, the soils of coastal blue carbon ecosystems maintain anaerobic conditions for a long time, which slows down the decomposition of soil organic carbon. The soils can thus store a large amount of carbon in the vertical direction from the top soil (Chmura et al., 2003). There are some differences in the amount and manner of carbon storage between green carbon and bluecarbon ecosystems. The carbon storage capacity of green carbon ecosystems such as forests is only one-fourth that of mangroves (IUCN, 2021). In addition, blue carbon ecosystems can store carbon more efficiently than green carbon ecosystems. In addition to the faster photosynthetic rate, the risk of wildfires is much lower in blue carbon ecosystems. The occurrence of forest wildfires will cause the stored organic carbon in the tissues and soils to return back to the atmosphere again.2.1 Blue carbon