The Researcher Maha Musaad Jumaa, from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment at the College of Education, Administrative and Technical Sciences at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU), assessed the ecosystem services of mangroves in the Kingdom of Bahrain by harnessing remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). Her doctoral thesis, recently defended, aimed to characterise the mangrove ecosystem within the Ras Sanad Reserve, situated in the Gulf of Tubli.

Soil samples were collected to a depth of 50 cm to determine mangrove soil texture, salinity and pH, enabling calculation of carbon stocks and equivalent carbon-dioxide stored in the soil. Employing Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, she analysed ten spectral vegetation indices to produce land-cover maps and compute the mangrove area in Ras Sanad between 2016 and 2024.

Supervised by Dr Sabah Al Jenaid (principal supervisor) and Dr Mohammed Obeid (co-supervisor), the study revealed that mangrove soils contain substantial carbon, demonstrating their sequestration capacity: average soil carbon reached 95.5 ± 174.73 tonnes per hectare (8.02 per cent), while equivalent carbon-dioxide averaged 641.27 ± 350.49 tonnes per hectare. 

Analysis of the 10 vegetation indices indicated medium mangrove cover across most months of the study period (index values 0.2–0.6), with peak coverage recorded in winter (December: 0.65). Land-use classification achieved an overall accuracy of 87 per cent (kappa 0.91) in 2016 and 91 per cent (kappa 0.86) in 2024. 

All indices confirmed that mangrove coverage in Ras Sanad remained virtually stable from 2016 to 2024, totalling approximately 20.53 hectares of the reserve’s overall 35.82 hectares.

Ms Jumaa recommended employing modern tools such as geospatial artificial intelligence to monitor future expansion or contraction of mangrove stands in Ras Sanad and elsewhere in the Gulf of Tubli