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Numerical Simulation of Methane Emission from an Artificial Reservoir

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Abstract

In the context of the Paris Agreement, the inventory of greenhouse gases emissions by various sectors of the economy becomes especially important. Artificially flooded areas are well known as sources of CO2, CH4, and N2O for the atmosphere, while the existing inventory methods for such objects do not explicitly take into account many important physical and biogeochemical mechanisms responsible for the formation of these emissions. A new version of the one-dimensional (in vertical) physical and biogeochemical model LAKE (version 2.3) is adapted for water bodies with significant through flow; i.e., it takes into account the sources/sinks of all prognostic variables due to inflows and effluent streams, as well as the average vertical speed and level fluctuations. The model reproduces the processes of vertical transfer of heat and radiation in the water column, the formation of ice and snow in winter, the thermal conductivity and phase transitions in bottom sediments at different depths, generation, diffusion, and the bubble transport of methane from bottom sediments to the surface; the model also calculates a complex of other biogeochemical variables, including dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, the content of phyto- and zooplankton, dissolved organic carbon, dead particles, etc. Using the model, we calculated one annual cycle (2016–2017) of the thermodynamic and hydrochemical state of the Mozhaisk artificial reservoir, forced by the data of meteorological measurements. The simulated horizontally averaged vertical distribution of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and methane content agrees satisfactorily with the observational data for the summer of 2017. At the same time, significant horizontal inhomogeneity is noticeable in the measurement data, especially in the methane concentration. The parameterization of horizontal heterogeneity effects is an important task for the future development of the model. According to the simulation results during the period from August 2016 to August 2017, the total methane flux from the reservoir to the atmosphere was 570 Mg/year, of which 80% is ebullition from the surface of the water body, 15% is the surface diffusion flux, and 5% of methane leaves the reservoir through the dam. Thus, the proposed model can be considered a tool for inventorying the emission of greenhouse gases from artificial water bodies.

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Notes

  1. The spectral interval of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) practically coincides with the interval of visible light so that the attenuation coefficient of PAR in the aquatic environment can be measured with satisfactory accuracy by visual methods, for example, using a Secchi disk.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank K.A. Shukurov for providing measurement data for shortwave and longwave radiation.

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant nos. 19-15-50265 (in terms of improving the physical block of the model to take into account the flow of the reservoir) and MD-1850.2020.5 (in terms of developing the biogeochemical block of the model) and corresponds to the scientific program of the Moscow Center for Fundamental and Applied Mathematics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Computing Center, Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia

    V. M. Stepanenko & I. A. Repina

  2. Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia

    V. M. Stepanenko & M. G. Grechushnikova

  3. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    I. A. Repina

  4. Institute of Water Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119333, Moscow, Russia

    M. G. Grechushnikova

  5. Moscow Center for Fundamental and Applied Mathematics, 119234, Moscow, Russia

    V. M. Stepanenko & I. A. Repina

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  1. V. M. Stepanenko
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  2. M. G. Grechushnikova
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Correspondence to V. M. Stepanenko.

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Translated by A. Ivanov

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Stepanenko, V.M., Grechushnikova, M.G. & Repina, I.A. Numerical Simulation of Methane Emission from an Artificial Reservoir. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 58, 649–659 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433822060159

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