Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions

Abstract Lake emissions of the climate forcing trace gas methane (CH4) are spatiotemporally variable, but biases in flux measurements arising from undersampling are poorly quantified. We use a multiyear data set (2009–2017) of ice‐free CH4 emissions from three subarctic lakes obtained with bubble tr...

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Main Authors: Joachim Jansen, Brett F. Thornton, Martin Wik, Sally MacIntyre, Patrick M. Crill
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088647
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author Joachim Jansen
Brett F. Thornton
Martin Wik
Sally MacIntyre
Patrick M. Crill
author_facet Joachim Jansen
Brett F. Thornton
Martin Wik
Sally MacIntyre
Patrick M. Crill
author_sort Joachim Jansen
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Lake emissions of the climate forcing trace gas methane (CH4) are spatiotemporally variable, but biases in flux measurements arising from undersampling are poorly quantified. We use a multiyear data set (2009–2017) of ice‐free CH4 emissions from three subarctic lakes obtained with bubble traps (n = 14,677), floating chambers (n = 1,306), and surface concentrations plus a gas transfer model (n = 535) to quantify these biases and evaluate corrections. Sampling primarily in warmer summer months, as is common, overestimates the ice‐free season flux by a factor 1.4–1.8. Temperature proxies based on Arrhenius functions that closely fit measured fluxes (R2 ≥ 0.93) enable gap filling the colder months of the ice‐free season and reduce sampling bias. Ebullition (activation energy 1.36 eV) expressed greater temperature sensitivity than diffusion (1.00 eV). Resolving seasonal and interannual variability in fluxes with proxies requires ∼135 sampling days for ebullition, and 22 and 14 days for diffusion via models and chambers, respectively.
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publishDate 2020-07-01
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-e5fb9a8c4bae4618bf9a482f9fb607a32025-08-20T03:47:41ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072020-07-014714n/an/a10.1029/2020GL088647Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane EmissionsJoachim Jansen0Brett F. Thornton1Martin Wik2Sally MacIntyre3Patrick M. Crill4Department of Geological Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenDepartment of Geological Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenDepartment of Geological Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenMarine Science Institute University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara CA USADepartment of Geological Sciences Stockholm University Stockholm SwedenAbstract Lake emissions of the climate forcing trace gas methane (CH4) are spatiotemporally variable, but biases in flux measurements arising from undersampling are poorly quantified. We use a multiyear data set (2009–2017) of ice‐free CH4 emissions from three subarctic lakes obtained with bubble traps (n = 14,677), floating chambers (n = 1,306), and surface concentrations plus a gas transfer model (n = 535) to quantify these biases and evaluate corrections. Sampling primarily in warmer summer months, as is common, overestimates the ice‐free season flux by a factor 1.4–1.8. Temperature proxies based on Arrhenius functions that closely fit measured fluxes (R2 ≥ 0.93) enable gap filling the colder months of the ice‐free season and reduce sampling bias. Ebullition (activation energy 1.36 eV) expressed greater temperature sensitivity than diffusion (1.00 eV). Resolving seasonal and interannual variability in fluxes with proxies requires ∼135 sampling days for ebullition, and 22 and 14 days for diffusion via models and chambers, respectively.https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088647methanenorthern lakesebullitiondiffusionsampling biastemperature proxies
spellingShingle Joachim Jansen
Brett F. Thornton
Martin Wik
Sally MacIntyre
Patrick M. Crill
Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions
Geophysical Research Letters
methane
northern lakes
ebullition
diffusion
sampling bias
temperature proxies
title Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions
title_full Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions
title_fullStr Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions
title_full_unstemmed Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions
title_short Temperature Proxies as a Solution to Biased Sampling of Lake Methane Emissions
title_sort temperature proxies as a solution to biased sampling of lake methane emissions
topic methane
northern lakes
ebullition
diffusion
sampling bias
temperature proxies
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088647
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