‘My name is Miao Li, a fourth-year visiting PhD student from the Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University. I am delighted to join the CCI group and collaborate with Dr Thomas Worthington over the next year. My PhD study aims to complement earlier research by building a longer time-series and multi-metric change map of coastal blue carbon ecosystems in East Asia that (a) identifies the drivers of change, (b) pinpoints priority areas for coastal restoration, and (c) estimates blue carbon benefits. A time-series mapping framework will be developed and tested on several estuarine wetlands located in different climatic zones. The objective is to clarify how variations in modelling methods, image frequency, and tidal conditions impact the accuracy of mapping intertidal wetland trajectories. Changes in intertidal wetlands will be mapped by employing remote-sensing data fusion, machine learning, and change detection techniques. Rapidly changing hotspots will be identified to delve deeper into anthropogenic and climatic drivers of change. A coastal restoration potential map will be refined in East Asia based on a more in-depth understanding of the socio-ecological context and blue carbon benefits will be assessed under different restoration scenarios.’
