Methane fluxes from a small boreal lake measured with the eddy covariance method

Fluxes of methane, CH4, were measured with the eddy covariance (EC) method at a small boreal lake in Sweden. The mean CH4 flux during the growing season of 2013 was 20.1 nmol m(-2) s(-1) and the median flux was 16 nmol m(-2) s(-1) (corresponding to 1.7 mmol m(-2) d(-1) and 1.4 mmol m(-2) d(-1)). Monthly mean values of CH4 flux measured with the EC method were compared with fluxes measured with floating chambers (FC) and were in average 62% higher over the whole study period. The difference was greatest in April partly because EC, but not FC, accounted for fluxes due to ice melt and a subsequent lake mixing event. A footprint analysis revealed that the EC footprint included primarily the shallow side of the lake with a major inlet. This inlet harbors emergent macrophytes that can mediate high CH4 fluxes. The difference between measured EC and FC fluxes can hence be explained by different footprint areas, where the EC system sees the part of the lake presumably releasing higher amounts of CH4. EC also provides more frequent measurements than FC and hence more likely captures ebullition events. This study shows that small lakes have CH4 fluxes that are highly variable in time and space. Based on our findings we suggest to measure CH4 fluxes from lakes as continuously as possible and to aim for covering as much of the lakes surface as possible, independently of the selected measuring technique.Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council FORMAS, project Color of Water (CoW); Swedish Research Council FORMAS, project Landscape Greenhouse Gas Exchange (LAGGE)</p

Parameterizing air-water gas exchange in the shallow, microtidal New River estuary

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License. The definitive version was published in Van Dam, B. R., Edson, J. B., & Tobias, C. Parameterizing air-water gas exchange in the shallow, microtidal New River estuary. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 124(7), (2019): 2351-2363, doi: 10.1029/2018JG004908.Estuarine CO2 emissions are important components of regional and global carbon budgets, but assessments of this flux are plagued by uncertainties associated with gas transfer velocity (k) parameterization. We combined direct eddy covariance measurements of CO2 flux with waterside pCO2 determinations to generate more reliable k parameterizations for use in small estuaries. When all data were aggregated, k was described well by a linear relationship with wind speed (U10), in a manner consistent with prior open ocean and estuarine k parameterizations. However, k was significantly greater at night and under low wind speed, and nighttime k was best predicted by a parabolic, rather than linear, relationship with U10. We explored the effect of waterside thermal convection but found only a weak correlation between convective scale and k. Hence, while convective forcing may be important at times, it appears that factors besides waterside thermal convection were likely responsible for the bulk of the observed nighttime enhancement in k. Regardless of source, we show that these day‐night differences in k should be accounted for when CO2 emissions are assessed over short time scales or when pCO2 is constant and U10 varies. On the other hand, when temporal variability in pCO2 is large, it exerts greater control over CO2 fluxes than does k parameterization. In these cases, the use of a single k value or a simple linear relationship with U10 is often sufficient. This study provides important guidance for k parameterization in shallow or microtidal estuaries, especially when diel processes are considered.We thank SERDP and DCERP for funding and support. Dennis Arbige assisted with EC tower construction, and Susan Cohen provided invaluable logistical support. I also thank Marc Alperin (UNC Chapel Hill) for his thoughtful guidance and encouragement with this project. All data sets for this manuscript are available at FigShare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7276877.v1). Additional funding for this project was provided by DAAD (57429828) from funds of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Evaluating Humidity and Sea Salt Disturbances on CO2 Flux Measurements

AbstractGlobal oceans are an important sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Therefore, understanding the air–sea flux of CO2 is a vital part in describing the global carbon balance. Eddy covariance (EC) measurements are often used to study CO2 fluxes from both land and ocean. Values of CO2 are usually measured with infrared absorption sensors, which at the same time measure water vapor. Studies have shown that the presence of water vapor fluctuations in the sampling air potentially results in erroneous CO2 flux measurements resulting from the cross sensitivity of the sensor. Here measured CO2 fluxes from both enclosed-path Li-Cor 7200 sensors and open-path Li-Cor 7500 instruments from an inland measurement site are compared with a marine site. Also, new quality control criteria based on a relative signal strength indicator (RSSI) are introduced. The sampling gas in one of the Li-Cor 7200 instruments was dried by means of a multitube diffusion dryer so that the water vapor fluxes were close to zero. With this setup the effect that cross sensitivity of the CO2 signal to water vapor can have on the CO2 fluxes was investigated. The dryer had no significant effect on the CO2 fluxes. The study tested the hypothesis that the cross-sensitivity effect is caused by hygroscopic particles such as sea salt by spraying a saline solution on the windows of the Li-Cor 7200 instruments during the inland field test. The results confirm earlier findings that sea salt contamination can affect CO2 fluxes significantly and that drying the sampling air for the gas analyzer is an effective method for reducing this signal contamination.</jats:p

Матеріали міжнародної науково-практичної конференції „Маркетинговий інструментарій управління попитом на товари та послуги“

Матеріали міжнародної науково-практичної конференції є результатом наукових досліджень авторів з проблем розроблення концептуальних засад маркетингового інструментарію управління попитом на товари і послуги України

Gas Transfer Velocities in Small Forested Ponds

Inland waters actively exchange gases with the atmosphere, and the gas exchange rate informs system biogeochemistry, ecology, and global carbon budgets. Gas exchange in medium- to large-sized lakes is largely regulated by wind; yet less is known about processes regulating gas transfer in small ponds where wind speeds are low. In this study, we determined the gas transfer velocity, k600, in four small ( \u3c 250 m2 ) ponds by using a propane ( C3H8 ) gas injection. When estimated across 12 h periods, the average k600 ranged from 0.19 to 0.72 m d-1 across the ponds. We also estimated k600 at 2 to 3 h intervals during the day and evaluated the relationship with environmental conditions. The average daytime k600 ranged from 0.33 to 1.83 m d-1 across the ponds and was best predicted by wind speed and air or air-water temperature; however, the explanatory power was weak (R2 \u3c 0.27) with high variability within and among ponds. To compare our results to larger water bodies, we compiled direct measurements of k600 from 67 ponds and lakes worldwide. Our k600 estimates were within the range of estimates for other small ponds, and variability in k600 increased with lake size. However, the majority of studies were conducted on medium-sized lakes (0.01 to 1 km2), leaving small ponds and large lakes understudied. Overall, this study adds four small ponds to the existing body of research on gas transfer velocities from inland waters and highlights uncertainty in k600, with implications for calculating metabolism and carbon emissions in inland waters

Latitude and lake size are important predictors of over-lake atmospheric stability: Atmospheric Stability Above Lakes

Turbulent fluxes across the air‐water interface are integral to determining lake heat budgets, evaporation, and carbon emissions from lakes. The stability of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) influences the exchange of turbulent energy. We explore the differences in over‐lake ABL stability using data from 39 globally distributed lakes. The frequency of unstable ABL conditions varied between lakes from 71 to 100% of the time, with average air temperatures typically several degrees below the average lake surface temperature. This difference increased with decreasing latitude, resulting in a more frequently unstable ABL and a more efficient energy transfer to and from the atmosphere, toward the tropics. In addition, during summer the frequency of unstable ABL conditions decreased with increasing lake surface area. The dependency of ABL stability on latitude and lake size has implications for heat loss and carbon fluxes from lakes, the hydrologic cycle, and climate change effects

Ebullition was a major pathway of methane emissions from the aquaculture ponds in southeast China

Aquaculture ponds are hotspots of carbon cycling and important anthropogenic sources of the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4). Despite the importance of CH4 ebullition in aquatic ecosystems, its magnitude and spatiotemporal variations in aquaculture ponds remain poorly understood. In this study, we determined the rates and spatiotemporal variations of ebullitive CH4 emissions from three mariculture ponds during the aquaculture period of two years at a subtropical estuary in southeast China. Our results showed that the mean ebullitive CH4 flux from the studied ponds was 14.9 mg CH4 m−2 h−1 during the aquaculture period and accounted for over 90% of the total CH4 emission, indicating the importance of ebullition as a major CH4 transport mechanism. Ebullitive CH4 emission demonstrated a clear seasonal pattern, with a peak value during the middle stage of aquaculture. Sediment temperature was found to be an important factor influencing the seasonal variations in CH4 ebullition. Ebullitive CH4 fluxes also exhibited considerable spatial variations within the ponds, with 49.7–71.8% of the whole pond CH4 ebullition being detected in the feeding zone where the large loading of sediment organic matter fueled CH4 production. Aquaculture ponds have much higher ebullitive CH4 effluxes than other aquatic ecosystems, which indicated the urgency to mitigate CH4 emission from aquaculture activities. Our findings highlighted that the importance of considering the large spatiotemporal variations in ebullitive CH4 flux in improving the accuracy of large-scale estimation of CH4 fluxes in aquatic ecosystems. Future studies should be conducted to characterize CH4 ebullitive fluxes over a greater number and diversity of aquaculture ponds and examine the mechanisms controlling CH4 ebullition in aquatic ecosystems

Lake Fluxes of Methane and Carbon Dioxide

Methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are two important greenhouse gases. Recent studies have shown that lakes, although they cover a small area of the globe, can be very important natural sources of atmospheric CH4 and CO2. It is therefore important to monitor the fluxes of these gases between lakes and the atmosphere in order to understand the processes that govern the exchange. By using the eddy covariance method for lake flux studies, the resolution in time and in space of the fluxes is increased, which gives more information on the governing processes. Eddy covariance measurements at a Swedish lake revealed a diel cycle in the fluxes of both CH4 and CO2, with higher fluxes during nighttime than daytime. The high nighttime CO2 fluxes could to a large extent be explained with enhanced transfer velocities due to waterside convection. For the diel cycle of CH4 flux it was suggested that waterside convection could enhance the transfer velocity, transport CH4 rich water to the surface, as well as trigger ebullition. Simultaneous flux measurements of CH4 and CO2 have been presented using both the eddy covariance method and the floating chambers method of which the latter is the traditional measuring method for lake fluxes. For CO2 the two methods agreed well during some periods but differed considerably during others. Disagreement between the methods might be due to horizontal heterogeneity in partial pressure of CO2 in the lake. The methods agreed better for the CH4 flux measurements. However, it is clear that due to the discontinuous nature of the floating chambers, this method will likely miss important high flux events. The main conclusions of this thesis are: 1) the two gas flux methods are not directly comparable and should be seen as supplementary to each other 2) waterside convection enhances the fluxes of both CH4 and CO2 over the water-air surface. If gas flux measurements are not conducted during nighttime, potential high flux periods might be missed and estimates of the total amount of gas released from lakes to the atmosphere may be biased

Lake Fluxes of Methane and Carbon Dioxide

Methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are two important greenhouse gases. Recent studies have shown that lakes, although they cover a small area of the globe, can be very important natural sources of atmospheric CH4 and CO2. It is therefore important to monitor the fluxes of these gases between lakes and the atmosphere in order to understand the processes that govern the exchange. By using the eddy covariance method for lake flux studies, the resolution in time and in space of the fluxes is increased, which gives more information on the governing processes. Eddy covariance measurements at a Swedish lake revealed a diel cycle in the fluxes of both CH4 and CO2, with higher fluxes during nighttime than daytime. The high nighttime CO2 fluxes could to a large extent be explained with enhanced transfer velocities due to waterside convection. For the diel cycle of CH4 flux it was suggested that waterside convection could enhance the transfer velocity, transport CH4 rich water to the surface, as well as trigger ebullition. Simultaneous flux measurements of CH4 and CO2 have been presented using both the eddy covariance method and the floating chambers method of which the latter is the traditional measuring method for lake fluxes. For CO2 the two methods agreed well during some periods but differed considerably during others. Disagreement between the methods might be due to horizontal heterogeneity in partial pressure of CO2 in the lake. The methods agreed better for the CH4 flux measurements. However, it is clear that due to the discontinuous nature of the floating chambers, this method will likely miss important high flux events. The main conclusions of this thesis are: 1) the two gas flux methods are not directly comparable and should be seen as supplementary to each other 2) waterside convection enhances the fluxes of both CH4 and CO2 over the water-air surface. If gas flux measurements are not conducted during nighttime, potential high flux periods might be missed and estimates of the total amount of gas released from lakes to the atmosphere may be biased

Lake Fluxes of Methane and Carbon Dioxide

Methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are two important greenhouse gases. Recent studies have shown that lakes, although they cover a small area of the globe, can be very important natural sources of atmospheric CH4 and CO2. It is therefore important to monitor the fluxes of these gases between lakes and the atmosphere in order to understand the processes that govern the exchange. By using the eddy covariance method for lake flux studies, the resolution in time and in space of the fluxes is increased, which gives more information on the governing processes. Eddy covariance measurements at a Swedish lake revealed a diel cycle in the fluxes of both CH4 and CO2, with higher fluxes during nighttime than daytime. The high nighttime CO2 fluxes could to a large extent be explained with enhanced transfer velocities due to waterside convection. For the diel cycle of CH4 flux it was suggested that waterside convection could enhance the transfer velocity, transport CH4 rich water to the surface, as well as trigger ebullition. Simultaneous flux measurements of CH4 and CO2 have been presented using both the eddy covariance method and the floating chambers method of which the latter is the traditional measuring method for lake fluxes. For CO2 the two methods agreed well during some periods but differed considerably during others. Disagreement between the methods might be due to horizontal heterogeneity in partial pressure of CO2 in the lake. The methods agreed better for the CH4 flux measurements. However, it is clear that due to the discontinuous nature of the floating chambers, this method will likely miss important high flux events. The main conclusions of this thesis are: 1) the two gas flux methods are not directly comparable and should be seen as supplementary to each other 2) waterside convection enhances the fluxes of both CH4 and CO2 over the water-air surface. If gas flux measurements are not conducted during nighttime, potential high flux periods might be missed and estimates of the total amount of gas released from lakes to the atmosphere may be biased