Coastal seagrass meadows provide essential ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and coastal protection, yet they are increasingly threatened by climate-driven extreme events. Understanding whether these disturbances result in temporary ecosystem responses or irreversible ecological transitions remains a major challenge for assessing ecosystem resilience. Long-term observations are particularly valuable for distinguishing natural variability from abrupt ecological change.
In this study, we used multi-sensor satellite imagery acquired over more than three decades to investigate the long-term dynamics of Zostera marina meadows on the southwest coast of Korea. Historical observations showed that the seagrass meadow remained relatively stable despite interannual environmental variability and repeated typhoon events. However, three consecutive typhoons that passed the study area in 2012 triggered an abrupt and extensive decline in seagrass coverage, representing the largest disturbance observed throughout the satellite record. The timing of the strongest typhoon during spring low tide, combined with successive storm impacts, likely amplified physical disturbance through sediment erosion, burial, and uprooting.
By extending the satellite time series beyond the original observations, we further examined the post-disturbance recovery trajectory of the meadow. The results indicate that seagrass coverage gradually recovered over subsequent years, demonstrating a substantial capacity for natural regeneration despite the severe ecosystem collapse. Rather than representing an irreversible ecosystem shift, the observed recovery suggests that the meadow retained ecological resilience, although recovery occurred over a much longer timescale than the initial disturbance.
Our findings demonstrate that long-term satellite observations provide a powerful framework for quantifying ecosystem stability, detecting abrupt ecological change, and evaluating recovery following extreme climate events. This study highlights the importance of continuous Earth observation for understanding resilience in coastal ecosystems and provides new insights into the response of temperate seagrass meadows to increasing climate extremes under future climate scenarios.