File:Derrymore Island marshes, important carbon retainers in Ireland (Copernicus).jpg

English: In the fight against climate change, the emphasis often falls on the significance of planting trees, yet coastal wetlands also play a vital role in carbon capture, outperforming even tropical forests. Derrymore Island marshes, nestled amidst the Atlantic waves in Ireland, stand as a natural carbon sink—a subject of intense scrutiny by a team from University College Dublin. These marshes possess a unique quality: their marsh grasses, saturated by saline water, with a reduced likelihood of decomposition, effectively retaining captured carbon within the soil. This thriving wetland adeptly sequesters carbon, but the delicate balance of its environment—neither too dry nor too wet—is essential for this process. Should coastal wetlands degrade, they may shift from being a carbon sink to a carbon source, with a negative impact climate change. This image acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 29 November shows the salt marshes of Derrymore. Copernicus supports the protection and preservation of such unique ecosystems by delivering free and open high-resolution satellite imagery for monitoring and management purposes.