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Gas-Tracer Experiment for Evaluating the Fate of Methane in a Coastal Plain Stream: Degassing versus in-Stream Oxidation
journal contribution
posted on 2016-09-15, 18:16 authored by Victor M. Heilweil, D. Kip Solomon, Thomas
H. Darrah, Troy E. Gilmore, David P. GenereuxMethane emissions
from streams and rivers have recently been recognized
as an important component of global greenhouse budgets. Stream methane
is lost as evasion to the atmosphere or in-stream methane oxidation.
Previous studies have quantified evasion and oxidation with point-scale
measurements. In this study, dissolved gases (methane, krypton) were
injected into a coastal plain stream in North Carolina to quantify
stream CH4 losses at the watershed scale. Stream-reach
modeling yielded gas transfer and oxidation rate constants of 3.2
± 0.5 and 0.5 ± 1.5 d–1, respectively,
indicating a ratio of about 6:1. The resulting evasion and oxidation
rates of 2.9 mmol m–2 d–1 and
1,140 nmol L–1 d–1, respectively,
lie within ranges of published values. Similarly, the gas transfer
velocity (K600) of 2.1 m d–1 is consistent with other gas tracer studies. This study illustrates
the utility of dissolved-gas tracers for evaluating stream methane
fluxes. In contrast to point measurements, this approach provides
a larger watershed-scale perspective. Further work is needed to quantify
the magnitude of these fluxes under varying conditions (e.g., stream
temperature, nutrient load, gradient, flow rate) at regional and global
scales before reliable bottom-up estimates of methane evasion can
be determined at global scales.
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Keywords
stream methanestream CH 4 lossespoint-scale measurementsPrevious studieswatershed-scale perspectivegas tracer studiesgas transfermethane evasionin-stream methane oxidationStream-reach modelingoxidation ratesNorth Carolina2.1 mK 600dissolved-gas tracersin-Stream Oxidation Methane emissionsflow ratewatershed scalepoint measurementsoxidation rate constantsgreenhouse budgetsstream methane fluxesbottom-up estimatesCoastal Plain Streamgas transfer velocityGas-Tracer Experiment
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