The Herring River estuary (Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts) has been tidally restricted for over a century by a dike constructed near the mouth of the river. Behind the dike, the tidal restriction has caused the conversion of salt marsh wetlands to various other ecosystems including impounded freshwater marshes, flooded shrub land, drained forested upland, and wetlands dominated by Phragmites australis. This estuary is now managed by the National Park Service, which has plans to replace the dike and restore tidal flow to the estuary. To assist National Park Service land managers with restoration planning, study collaborators have been investigating differences in soil properties, carbon accumulation, and greenhouse gas fluxes across differing ecosystems within the Herring River Estuary. The U.S. Geological Survey collected continuous monitoring data (including water level, soil temperature, air temperature, and meteorological parameters). These datasets can help evaluate key ecosystem drivers to make predictions about potential changes as restoration commences.

Environmental parameters affecting plant productivity and microbial respiration, such as water level, salinity, and groundwater temperature included in these datasets, are key components of wetland carbon cycling, carbon storage, and capacity to maintain elevation. Data were collected to (1) provide background data to evaluate potential differences in water level and carbon flux between wetland sites with differing elevation and tidal inundation and (2) facilitate applications of Blue Carbon projects in coastal wetlands. Associated child pages include continuous water level, salinity, and temperature from shallow wells installed in coastal wetland sites on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These datasets are grouped by the project they support or by study site. Project study sites include salt marshes with natural tidal flow, salt marshes that were previously tidally restricted and have been restored, impounded coastal wetlands with restricted tidal flow inclusive of various vegetation types, and Phragmites dominated areas fringing natural salt marshes.

Environmental parameters affecting plant productivity and microbial respiration, such as water level, salinity, and groundwater temperature included in these datasets, are key components of wetland carbon cycling, carbon storage, and capacity to maintain elevation. Data were collected to (1) provide background data to evaluate potential differences in water level and carbon flux between wetland sites with differing elevation and tidal inundation and (2) facilitate applications of Blue Carbon projects in coastal wetlands. Associated child pages include continuous water level, salinity, and temperature from shallow wells installed in coastal wetland sites on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These datasets are grouped by the project they support or by study site. Project study sites include salt marshes with natural tidal flow, salt marshes that were previously tidally restricted and have been restored, impounded coastal wetlands with restricted tidal flow inclusive of various vegetation types, and Phragmites dominated areas fringing natural salt marshes.

Environmental parameters affecting plant productivity and microbial respiration, such as water level, salinity, and groundwater temperature included in these datasets, are key components of wetland carbon cycling, carbon storage, and capacity to maintain elevation. Data were collected to (1) provide background data to evaluate potential differences in water level and carbon flux between wetland sites with differing elevation and tidal inundation and (2) facilitate applications of Blue Carbon projects in coastal wetlands. Associated child pages include continuous water level, salinity, and temperature from shallow wells installed in coastal wetland sites on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These datasets are grouped by the project they support or by study site. Project study sites include salt marshes with natural tidal flow, salt marshes that were previously tidally restricted and have been restored, impounded coastal wetlands with restricted tidal flow inclusive of various vegetation types, and Phragmites dominated areas fringing natural salt marshes.

Environmental parameters affecting plant productivity and microbial respiration, such as water level, salinity, and groundwater temperature included in these datasets, are key components of wetland carbon cycling, carbon storage, and capacity to maintain elevation. Data were collected to (1) provide background data to evaluate potential differences in water level and carbon flux between wetland sites with differing elevation and tidal inundation and (2) facilitate applications of Blue Carbon projects in coastal wetlands. Associated child pages include continuous water level, salinity, and temperature from shallow wells installed in coastal wetland sites on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These datasets are grouped by the project they support or by study site. Project study sites include salt marshes with natural tidal flow, salt marshes that were previously tidally restricted and have been restored, impounded coastal wetlands with restricted tidal flow inclusive of various vegetation types, and Phragmites dominated areas fringing natural salt marshes.

Continuous monitoring data reported are a portion of data from a larger study investigating changes in soil properties, carbon accumulation, and greenhouse gas fluxes in four recently restored salt marsh sites and nearby natural salt marshes. For several decades, local towns, conservation groups, and government organizations have worked to identify, replace, repair, and enlarge culverts to restore tidal flow upstream from historical tidal restrictions in an effort to restore salt marsh ecosystems on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Undersized or failed culverts restrict tidal exchange between the marsh and the bays and estuaries, which leads to alterations in plant community composition and in fundamental processes controlling soil carbon accumulation, soil carbon transformations, and greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, sites were selected to compare salt marshes restored over a range of years and to compare marshes upstream and downstream from a restored tidal restriction. Salt marshes downstream from tidal restrictions represent "natural" conditions because hydrology was not substantially altered, whereas marshes upstream from repaired culverts represent "restored" conditions. At each of the four salt marsh sites, study plots were established on the natural and restored sides of the former tidal restriction. Well water-level loggers, soil and air temperature loggers, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensors were deployed over the growing season to coincide with discrete measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes made by study collaborators. Water-level loggers were also deployed in creeks near the restored tidal restriction.

Continuous monitoring data reported are a portion of data from a larger study investigating changes in soil properties, carbon accumulation, and greenhouse gas fluxes in four recently restored salt marsh sites and nearby natural salt marshes. For several decades, local towns, conservation groups, and government organizations have worked to identify, replace, repair, and enlarge culverts to restore tidal flow upstream from historical tidal restrictions in an effort to restore salt marsh ecosystems on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Undersized or failed culverts restrict tidal exchange between the marsh and the bays and estuaries, which leads to alterations in plant community composition and in fundamental processes controlling soil carbon accumulation, soil carbon transformations, and greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, sites were selected to compare salt marshes restored over a range of years and to compare marshes upstream and downstream from a restored tidal restriction. Salt marshes downstream from tidal restrictions represent "natural" conditions because hydrology was not substantially altered, whereas marshes upstream from repaired culverts represent "restored" conditions. At each of the four salt marsh sites, study plots were established on the natural and restored sides of the former tidal restriction. Well water-level loggers, soil and air temperature loggers, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) sensors were deployed over the growing season to coincide with discrete measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes made by study collaborators. Water-level loggers were also deployed in creeks near the restored tidal restriction.

Environmental parameters affecting plant productivity and microbial respiration, such as water level, salinity, and groundwater temperature included in these datasets, are key components of wetland carbon cycling, carbon storage, and capacity to maintain elevation. Data were collected to (1) provide background data to evaluate potential differences in water level and carbon flux between wetland sites with differing elevation and tidal inundation and (2) facilitate applications of Blue Carbon projects in coastal wetlands. Associated child pages include continuous water level, salinity, and temperature from shallow wells installed in coastal wetland sites on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These datasets are grouped by the project they support or by study site. Project study sites include salt marshes with natural tidal flow, salt marshes that were previously tidally restricted and have been restored, impounded coastal wetlands with restricted tidal flow inclusive of various vegetation types, and Phragmites dominated areas fringing natural salt marshes.

Environmental parameters affecting plant productivity and microbial respiration, such as water level, salinity, and groundwater temperature included in these datasets, are key components of wetland carbon cycling, carbon storage, and capacity to maintain elevation. Data were collected to (1) provide background data to evaluate potential differences in water level and carbon flux between wetland sites with differing elevation and tidal inundation and (2) facilitate applications of Blue Carbon projects in coastal wetlands. Associated child pages include continuous water level, salinity, and temperature from shallow wells installed in coastal wetland sites on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. These datasets are grouped by the project they support or by study site. Project study sites include salt marshes with natural tidal flow, salt marshes that were previously tidally restricted and have been restored, impounded coastal wetlands with restricted tidal flow inclusive of various vegetation types, and Phragmites dominated areas fringing natural salt marshes.

Salt marshes are environmental ecosystems that contribute to coastal landscape resiliency to storms and rising sea level. Ninety percent of mid-Atlantic and New England salt marshes have been impacted by parallel grid ditching that began in the 1920s–40s to control mosquito populations and to provide employment opportunities during the Great Depression (James-Pirri and others, 2009; Kennish, 2001). Continued alteration of salt marsh hydrology has had unintended consequences for salt marsh sustainability and ecosystem services. Great Barnstable Marsh (Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts) has areas of salt marsh that were ditched as well as natural areas. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured parameters for groundwater wells (water elevation, water depth below land surface, salinity, and water temperature), soil and air temperature, and other meteorological parameters. All these parameters affect plant productivity and are key components of salt marsh carbon cycling, carbon storage, and its ability to maintain elevation in response to changing sea level. These USGS datasets can be used to evaluate changes in water levels across ditched and natural salt marsh regions and provide information for any future studies of salt marsh productivity and geomorphic models in Great Barnstable Marsh. James-Pirri, M.-J.,Ginsberg, H.S., Erwin,R.m., and Taylor, J., 2009, Effects of open marsh water management on numbers of larval salt marsh mosquitoes: Journal of Medical Entomology, 46(6), 1392-1399, doi:10.1603/033.046.0620. Kennish, M. J., 2001, Coastal salt marsh systems in the U.S.-A Review of Anthropogenic Impacts: Journal of Coastal Research, 17(3), 731-748, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4300224.