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. 2019 Mar 26;3(3):64-75.
doi: 10.1002/lol2.10073.

Greenhouse gas emissions from lakes and impoundments: upscaling in the face of global change

Tonya DelSontro  1 , J J Beaulieu  2 , John A Downing  3
Affiliations

Greenhouse gas emissions from lakes and impoundments: upscaling in the face of global change

Tonya DelSontro et al. Limnol Oceanogr Lett. .

Abstract

Lakes and impoundments are important sources of greenhouse gases (GHG: i.e., CO2, CH4, N2O), yet global emission estimates are based on regionally-biased averages and elementary upscaling. We assembled the largest global dataset to date on emission rates of all three GHGs and found they covary with lake size and trophic state. Fitted models were upscaled to estimate global emission using global lake size inventories and a remotely-sensed global lake productivity distribution. Traditional upscaling approaches overestimated CO2 and N2O emission but underestimated CH4 by half. Our upscaled size-productivity weighted estimates (1.25-2.30 Pg of CO2-equivalents annually) are nearly 20% of global CO2 fossil fuel emission with ~75% of the climate impact due to CH4. Moderate global increases in eutrophication could translate to 5-40% increases in the GHG effects in the atmosphere, adding the equivalent effect of another 13% of fossil fuel combustion or an effect equal to GHG emissions from current land use change.

Keywords: carbon dioxide; global; lakes; methane; nitrous oxide; reservoirs.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Size-productivity weighted (SPW) models for GHG emissions from lakes and impoundments. (A) CO2 emissions best explained by surface area (SA), trophic status via TP, and the interaction between the two. (B) A linear relationship with chla, also a trophic state proxy, is the best model for total CH4. (C) SA and chla (but no interaction) best explain N2O emissions.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Annual emissions (Tg Gas y−1) and total surface area (km2) per lake size bin according to the Downing et al. (2006) distribution using the size-productivity weighted (SPW) approach for (A) CO2, (B) total CH4, and (C) N2O.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Evolving view of the ‘active pipe’ model first proposed by Cole et al. (2007). Values represent annual transport of C (Pg) and emissions to atmosphere are for lakes and impoundments.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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