Aerial-Aquatic Robots as a New Paradigm for Blue Carbon Monitoring and Sequestration

The relentless rise of the global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels emphasizes the need for novel and innovative approaches to carbon sequestration strategies. This paper highlights how natural carbon dioxide removal methods can integrate with novel robotic technologies to tackle carbon sequestration and biodiversity monitoring. We focus on the use of multi-modal aerial robotic systems, such as aerial-aquatic robots to enhance CDR efforts in Blue Carbon ecosystems. Since this ecosystem features the highest carbon sequestration per area in the natural environment, and straddles both land and sea, we see the potential in utilizing multi-modal robots as scalable solutions in these ecosystems. So far, research in these regions has been limited to satellite imagery, aerial photography, and manual sample collection and biomass measurement by individuals. This presents a substantial opportunity for robots to contribute to monitoring beneath the canopy, the soil, and underwater, and possibly even in the sequestration of CO2, alongside gathering other abiotic and biotic data, including information on plant and animal life. We view this as the inception of a robotics initiative focused on the blue carbon sector, aimed at aiding and safeguarding these diminishing ecosystems and their inhabitants.