Sediment fluxes rather than oxic methanogenesis explain diffusive CH₄ emissions from lakes and reservoirs.

ABSTRACT: Methane emissions from lakes and reservoirs are a major natural source in the global budget of atmospheric CH₄. A large fraction of these emissions are due to diffusive transport of CH₄ from surface waters to the atmosphere. It was suggested recently that CH₄ production in the oxic surface waters is required to compensate for diffusive CH₄ emissions from lakes. In contrast, we demonstrate here that typical diffusive CH₄-fluxes from sediments in shallow water zones, F_sed,S, suffice to explain CH₄ emissions to the atmosphere. Our analysis is based on the combination of an exceptional data set on surface concentrations of CH₄ with a mass balance model of CH₄ that is focused on the surface mixed

SUBMITTER: Peeters F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6338738 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature