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Optimized methods for diffusive greenhouse gas flux analyses in inland waters

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 27, pages 25870–25876 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Inland waters are considered hotspots of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and have been extensively researched. Static chamber (STAT) and thin boundary layer (BLE) are two commonly used methods for analyzing diffusive GHG emissions from inland waters. However, the STAT method is often disturbed by GHG bubbles; meanwhile, many kinds of headspace gas are used in the BLE method, but the differences between their diffusive GHG emission analysis results are not understood. In this study, the chamber in the STAT method was modified to combat the disturbances from GHG bubbles, and the typically used gases for the BLE method, namely, pure nitrogen, air, and filtered air, were comparatively studied. Results demonstrated that the modified chamber could effectively prevent the invasion of GHG bubbles; it increased the success rate from 67 to 90% in the field test, with no obvious impacts on the results of the GHG emission analyses. The use of air and filtered air in the BLE method yielded the lower values of GHG emissions relative to pure nitrogen, and this finding was potentially attributed to the inhibition effects of the residual GHGs and high humidity in air and filtered air on the extraction of diffusive GHGs from the surface water. This study improved the commonly used methods for diffusive GHG emission analysis, and the current findings are beneficial to the study of GHG emissions from inland waters.

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Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 41701112).

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Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Lin Zhu, Jianghua Yu, Huayong Cao & Yinyu Pu

  2. Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    Bryce Van Dam

  3. Center for Eco-Environment Research, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Wenqing Shi

  4. Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Boqiang Qin

Authors
  1. Lin Zhu
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  2. Jianghua Yu
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  3. Bryce Van Dam
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  4. Huayong Cao
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  5. Yinyu Pu
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  6. Wenqing Shi
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  7. Boqiang Qin
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Correspondence to Wenqing Shi or Boqiang Qin.

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Zhu, L., Yu, J., Van Dam, B. et al. Optimized methods for diffusive greenhouse gas flux analyses in inland waters. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 25870–25876 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06436-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06436-9

Keywords

  • Inland waters
  • Greenhouse gas
  • Static chamber
  • Thin boundary layer
  • Greenhouse gas bubble
  • Diffusive greenhouse gas