Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds
Arctic regions are experiencing rapid warming, leading to permafrost thaw and formation of numerous water bodies. Although small ponds in particular are considered hot spots for methane (CH 4 ) release, long-term studies of CH 4 efflux from these surfaces are rare. We have collected an extensive dat...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
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Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1611459 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1611459 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1611459 2023-07-30T04:02:03+02:00 Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds Burke, S. A. Wik, M. Lang, A. Contosta, A. R. Palace, M. Crill, P. M. Varner, R. K. 2022-05-30 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1611459 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1611459 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1611459 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1611459 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 doi:10.1029/2018jg004786 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES 2022 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 2023-07-11T09:41:19Z Arctic regions are experiencing rapid warming, leading to permafrost thaw and formation of numerous water bodies. Although small ponds in particular are considered hot spots for methane (CH 4 ) release, long-term studies of CH 4 efflux from these surfaces are rare. We have collected an extensive data set of CH 4 ebullition (bubbling) measurements from eight small thaw ponds (<0.001 km 2 ) with different physical and hydrological characteristics over four summer seasons, the longest set of observations from thaw ponds to date. The measured fluxes were highly variable with an average of 20.0 mg CH 4 · m -2 · day -1 (median: 4.1 mg CH 4 · m -2 · day -1 , n = 2,063) which is higher than that of most nearby lakes. The ponds were categorized into four types based on clear and significant differences in bubble flux. We found that the amount of CH 4 released as bubbles from ponds was very weakly correlated with environmental variables, like air temperature and atmospheric pressure, and was potentially more related to differences in physical characteristics of the ponds. Using our measured average daily bubble flux plus the available literature, we estimate circumpolar thaw ponds <0.001 km 2 in size to emit between 0.2 and 1.0 Tg of CH 4 through ebullition. Our findings exemplify the importance of high-frequency measurements over long study periods in order to adequately capture the variability of these water bodies. Through the expansion of current spatial and temporal monitoring efforts, we can increase our ability to estimate CH 4 emissions from permafrost pond ecosystems now and in the future. Other/Unknown Material Arctic permafrost SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 124 7 2208 2221 |
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Open Polar |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES Burke, S. A. Wik, M. Lang, A. Contosta, A. R. Palace, M. Crill, P. M. Varner, R. K. Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 58 GEOSCIENCES |
description |
Arctic regions are experiencing rapid warming, leading to permafrost thaw and formation of numerous water bodies. Although small ponds in particular are considered hot spots for methane (CH 4 ) release, long-term studies of CH 4 efflux from these surfaces are rare. We have collected an extensive data set of CH 4 ebullition (bubbling) measurements from eight small thaw ponds (<0.001 km 2 ) with different physical and hydrological characteristics over four summer seasons, the longest set of observations from thaw ponds to date. The measured fluxes were highly variable with an average of 20.0 mg CH 4 · m -2 · day -1 (median: 4.1 mg CH 4 · m -2 · day -1 , n = 2,063) which is higher than that of most nearby lakes. The ponds were categorized into four types based on clear and significant differences in bubble flux. We found that the amount of CH 4 released as bubbles from ponds was very weakly correlated with environmental variables, like air temperature and atmospheric pressure, and was potentially more related to differences in physical characteristics of the ponds. Using our measured average daily bubble flux plus the available literature, we estimate circumpolar thaw ponds <0.001 km 2 in size to emit between 0.2 and 1.0 Tg of CH 4 through ebullition. Our findings exemplify the importance of high-frequency measurements over long study periods in order to adequately capture the variability of these water bodies. Through the expansion of current spatial and temporal monitoring efforts, we can increase our ability to estimate CH 4 emissions from permafrost pond ecosystems now and in the future. |
author |
Burke, S. A. Wik, M. Lang, A. Contosta, A. R. Palace, M. Crill, P. M. Varner, R. K. |
author_facet |
Burke, S. A. Wik, M. Lang, A. Contosta, A. R. Palace, M. Crill, P. M. Varner, R. K. |
author_sort |
Burke, S. A. |
title |
Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds |
title_short |
Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds |
title_full |
Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds |
title_fullStr |
Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long-Term Measurements of Methane Ebullition From Thaw Ponds |
title_sort |
long-term measurements of methane ebullition from thaw ponds |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1611459 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1611459 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic permafrost |
genre_facet |
Arctic permafrost |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1611459 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1611459 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 doi:10.1029/2018jg004786 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jg004786 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
124 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
2208 |
op_container_end_page |
2221 |
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1772812771220520960 |