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Whole-Lake CO2 Dynamics in Response to Storm Events in Two Morphologically Different Lakes

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Abstract

In lentic systems, hydrology can be dramatically altered after storm events, potentially modifying the carbon budget. In particular, rapid increases in the surface water carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) have been observed following such events. Several processes may explain these shifts in lake CO2 dynamics, including vertical mixing, increases in metabolism, and increases in external loading. To evaluate the relative importance of these various processes, we reconstructed the whole-lake daily CO2 budget using concurrent estimates of lake metabolism and daily CO2 mass balance budgets in two lakes with distinct morphometries located in Québec, Canada. We found that storm events caused variable, but significant, changes in whole-lake CO2 mass. Such events influenced CO2 dynamics indirectly by inducing shifts in lake metabolism, and directly by importing CO2 by the inflowing storm waters. Storm intensity (in terms of total amount of precipitation) influences the balance between these two processes, but the final outcome depends on lake morphometry. Our results suggest that when storms are intense enough to drive lake water renewal rate beyond 1% day−1, external CO2 loadings became the dominant process, overwhelming internal CO2 production. Lakes with slower hydrological turnover, however, are more susceptible to internal regulation and may simply re-allocate CO2 from the hypolimnion to the epilimnion following a storm event. Our results thus suggest that this tightening of the watershed-lake-atmosphere linkage by climatic events is strongly modulated by lake morphometry. These features should be considered when predicting the impact of future climate change on regional C budgets and emissions.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Alice Parkes for her dedication to the automated systems, especially in Lac Croche. Mathieu Dumais and Jean-Philippe Desindes for field and laboratory assistance. We also thank Jean-François Lapierre for helpful advice and discussions, Adam Heathcote, Shoji Thottathil and two anonymous reviewers for useful comments on previous versions of the manuscript, and HSC for unwavering guidance. This project was part of the large-scale research program of the Industrial Research Chair in Carbon Biogeochemistry in Boreal Aquatic Systems (CarBBAS), co-funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Hydro-Québec to PDG. NSERC doctoral scholarship and UQAM-FARE scholarship was also attributed to DV.

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  1. Groupe de Recherche Interuniversitaire en Limnologie (GRIL), Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3P 3P8, Canada

    Dominic Vachon & Paul A. del Giorgio

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  1. Dominic Vachon
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Correspondence to Dominic Vachon.

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Both authors designed the study and wrote the paper. DV performed research and analyzed data.

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Vachon, D., del Giorgio, P.A. Whole-Lake CO2 Dynamics in Response to Storm Events in Two Morphologically Different Lakes. Ecosystems 17, 1338–1353 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-014-9799-8

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