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Temporal variation in methane emissions in a shallow lake at a southern mid latitude during high and low rainfall periods

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Abstract

The global methane (CH4) emission of lakes is estimated at between 6 and 16 % of total natural CH4 emissions. However, these values have a high uncertainty due to the wide variety of lakes with important differences in their morphological, biological, and physicochemical parameters and the relatively scarse data from southern mid-latitude lakes. For these reasons, we studied CH4 fluxes and CH4 dissolved in water in a typical shallow lake in the Pampean Wetland, Argentina, during four periods of consecutive years (April 2011–March 2015) preceded by different rainfall conditions. Other water physicochemical parameters were measured and meteorological data were reported. We identified three different states of the lake throughout the study as the result of the irregular alternation between high and low rainfall periods, with similar water temperature values but with important variations in dissolved oxygen, chemical oxygen demand, water turbidity, electric conductivity, and water level. As a consequence, marked seasonal and interannual variations occurred in CH4 dissolved in water and CH4 fluxes from the lake. These temporal variations were best reflected by water temperature and depth of the Secchi disk, as a water turbidity estimation, which had a significant double correlation with CH4 dissolved in water. The mean CH4 fluxes values were 0.22 and 4.09 mg/m2/h for periods with low and high water turbidity, respectively. This work suggests that water temperature and turbidity measurements could serve as indicator parameters of the state of the lake and, therefore, of its behavior as either a CH4 source or sink.

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Abbreviations

AT:

air temperature

COD:

chemical oxygen demand

EC:

water electrical conductivity normalized to 25 °C

DO:

dissolved oxygen

MF:

methane diffusive fluxes

RF:

total monthly rainfall

SPI-6:

Standardized Precipitation Index for a 6-month timescale

WL:

water level

WM:

methane dissolved in water

WMe:

methane dissolved in water that is in equilibrium with the atmospheric methane concentration

WT:

surface water temperature

Z:

depth of the Secchi disk

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Research (ANPCyT) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MINCyT), Argentina (PICT 2015-2540). The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Weather Service for meteorological data and Dr. Natasha Picone for her help with the SPI interpretation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIFICEN-UNCPBA-CICPBA-CONICET - Centro de investigaciones en Física e Ingeniería del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina

    Victoria S. Fusé, M. Eugenia Priano & M. Paula Juliarena

  2. CONICET - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Av. Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ, CABA, Argentina

    José I. Gere & Roberto Gratton

  3. UNCPBA - Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Pinto 399, 7000, Tandil, Argentina

    Karen E. Williams & Sergio A. Guzmán

Authors
  1. Victoria S. Fusé
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  2. M. Eugenia Priano
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  3. Karen E. Williams
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  4. José I. Gere
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  6. Roberto Gratton
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  7. M. Paula Juliarena
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Correspondence to M. Paula Juliarena.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Roberto Gratton is deceased 7 November 2014

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Fusé, V.S., Priano, M.E., Williams, K.E. et al. Temporal variation in methane emissions in a shallow lake at a southern mid latitude during high and low rainfall periods. Environ Monit Assess 188, 590 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5601-z

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