Reservoir Water-Level Drawdowns Accelerate and Amplify Methane Emission

John A Harrison; Bridget R Deemer; M. Keith Birchfield; Maria T O’Malley

doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b03185

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Reservoir Water-Level Drawdowns Accelerate and Amplify Methane Emission

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Reservoir Water-Level Drawdowns Accelerate and Amplify Methane Emission

John A Harrison, Bridget R Deemer, M. Keith Birchfield and Maria T O’Malley

Environmental science & technology, Vol.51(3), pp.1267-1277

02/07/2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b03185

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https://hdl.handle.net/2376/109209

PMID: 28068068

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Abstract

Geological materials

Diffusion

Fluxes

Oxidation

Bubbles

Geology

Water-level fluctuations due to reservoir management could substantially affect the timing and magnitude of reservoir methane (CH4) fluxes to the atmosphere. However, effects of such fluctuations on CH4 emissions have received limited attention. Here we examine CH4 emission dynamics in six Pacific Northwest U.S. reservoirs of varying trophic status, morphometry, and management regimes. In these systems, we show that water-level drawdowns can, at least temporarily, greatly increase per-area reservoir CH4 fluxes to the atmosphere, and can account for more than 90% of annual reservoir CH4 flux in a period of just a few weeks. Reservoirs with higher epilimnetic [chlorophyll a] experienced larger increases in CH4 emission in response to drawdown (R2 = 0.84, p < 0.01), suggesting that eutrophication magnifies the effect of drawdown on CH4 emission. We show that drawdowns as small as 0.5 m can stimulate ebullition events. Given that drawdown events of this magnitude are quite common in reservoirs, our results suggest that this process must be considered in sampling strategies designed to characterize total CH4 fluxes from reservoirs. The extent to which (and the mechanisms by which) drawdowns short-circuit connections between methanogenesis and methanotrophy, thereby increasing net CH4 fluxes to the atmosphere, should be a focus of future work.

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Title: Reservoir Water-Level Drawdowns Accelerate and Amplify Methane Emission
Creators: John A Harrison - Washington State University School of the Environment Vancouver, Washington 98686 United States
Bridget R Deemer - Washington State University School of the Environment Vancouver, Washington 98686 United States, U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001 United States
M. Keith Birchfield - Washington State University School of the Environment Vancouver, Washington 98686 United States
Maria T O’Malley - Washington State University School of the Environment Vancouver, Washington 98686 United States, Stanford University Medical Center Palo Alto, California 94305 United States
Publication Details: Environmental science & technology, Vol.51(3), pp.1267-1277
Academic Unit: Harrison Research Group: Global Change and Watershed Biochemistry ; Environment, School of the (CAS)
Publisher: AMER CHEMICAL SOC
Number of pages: 11
Grant note: EAR1045286; DEB1355211 / National Science Foundation Washington State University's College of Science National Science Foundation (NSF) FP917450 / EPA STAR Fellowship US Army Corps of Engineers Climate Preparedness and Resilience Programs
Identifiers: 99900547401501842
Copyright: See: https://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_termsofuse.html
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article