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Journal ArticleDOI

Reservoir Surfaces as Sources of Greenhouse Gases to the Atmosphere: A Global Estimate

01 Sep 2000-BioScience (Oxford University Press)-Vol. 50, Iss: 9, pp 766-775
About: This article is published in BioScience.The article was published on 2000-09-01. It has received 679 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Greenhouse gas removal & Greenhouse gas.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of inland water ecosystems in the global carbon cycle has been investigated and it is shown that roughly twice as much C enters inland aquatic systems from land as is exported from land to the sea, roughly equally as inorganic and organic carbon.
Abstract: Because freshwater covers such a small fraction of the Earth’s surface area, inland freshwater ecosystems (particularly lakes, rivers, and reservoirs) have rarely been considered as potentially important quantitative components of the carbon cycle at either global or regional scales. By taking published estimates of gas exchange, sediment accumulation, and carbon transport for a variety of aquatic systems, we have constructed a budget for the role of inland water ecosystems in the global carbon cycle. Our analysis conservatively estimates that inland waters annually receive, from a combination of background and anthropogenically altered sources, on the order of 1.9 Pg C y−1 from the terrestrial landscape, of which about 0.2 is buried in aquatic sediments, at least 0.8 (possibly much more) is returned to the atmosphere as gas exchange while the remaining 0.9 Pg y−1 is delivered to the oceans, roughly equally as inorganic and organic carbon. Thus, roughly twice as much C enters inland aquatic systems from land as is exported from land to the sea. Over prolonged time net carbon fluxes in aquatic systems tend to be greater per unit area than in much of the surrounding land. Although their area is small, these freshwater aquatic systems can affect regional C balances. Further, the inclusion of inland, freshwater ecosystems provides useful insight about the storage, oxidation and transport of terrestrial C, and may warrant a revision of how the modern net C sink on land is described.

3,179 citations

Book
01 Sep 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the Ecosystem Concept is used to describe the Earth's Climate System and Geology and Soils, and the ecosystem concept is used for managing and sustaining ecosystems.
Abstract: I. CONTEXT * The Ecosystem Concept * Earth's Climate System * Geology and Soils * II. MECHANISMS * Terrestrial Water and Energy Balance * Carbon Input to Terrestrial Ecosystems * Terrestrial Production Processes * Terrestrial Decomposition * Terrestrial Plant Nutrient Use * Terrestrial Nutrient Cycling * Aquatic Carbon and Nutrient Cycling * Trophic Dynamics * Community Effects on Ecosystem Processes * III. PATTERNS * Temporal Dynamics * Landscape Heterogeneity and Ecosystem Dynamics * IV. INTEGRATION * Global Biogeochemical Cycles * Managing and Sustaining Ecosystem * Abbreviations * Glossary * References

3,086 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Apr 2005-Science
TL;DR: A global overview of dam-based impacts on large river systems shows that over half (172 out of 292) are affected by dams, including the eight most biogeographically diverse catchments, which can be used to identify ecological risks associated with further impacts onLarge river systems.
Abstract: A global overview of dam-based impacts on large river systems shows that over half (172 out of 292) are affected by dams, including the eight most biogeographically diverse. Dam-impacted catchments experience higher irrigation pressure and about 25 times more economic activity per unit of water than do unaffected catchments. In view of projected changes in climate and water resource use, these findings can be used to identify ecological risks associated with further impacts on large river systems.

2,986 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The role of lakes in carbon cycling and global climate, examine the mechanisms influencing carbon pools and transformations in lakes, and discuss how the metabolism of carbon in the inland waters is likely to change in response to climate.
Abstract: We explore the role of lakes in carbon cycling and global climate, examine the mechanisms influencing carbon pools and transformations in lakes, and discuss how the metabolism of carbon in the inland waters is likely to change in response to climate. Furthermore, we project changes as global climate change in the abundance and spatial distribution of lakes in the biosphere, and we revise the estimate for the global extent of carbon transformation in inland waters. This synthesis demonstrates that the global annual emissions of carbon dioxide from inland waters to the atmosphere are similar in magnitude to the carbon dioxide uptake by the oceans and that the global burial of organic carbon in inland water sediments exceeds organic carbon sequestration on the ocean floor. The role of inland waters in global carbon cycling and climate forcing may be changed by human activities, including construction of impoundments, which accumulate large amounts of carbon in sediments and emit large amounts of methane to the atmosphere. Methane emissions are also expected from lakes on melting permafrost. The synthesis presented here indicates that (1) inland waters constitute a significant component of the global carbon cycle, (2) their contribution to this cycle has significantly changed as a result of human activities, and (3) they will continue to change in response to future climate change causing decreased as well as increased abundance of lakes as well as increases in the number of aquatic impoundments.

2,140 citations


Cites background from "Reservoir Surfaces as Sources of Gr..."

  • ...The contribution from lakes (8–48 Tg yr21; Bastviken et al. 2004a) in combination with the likely emissions from large impoundments (70 Tg yr21; St. Louis et al. 2000) and an expected high but unknown amount of emission from the globally abundant small impoundments such as farm ponds (Downing et al. 2008) points to emissions from inland waters that are on the order of 100 Tg yr21 or more....

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  • ...Estimates of the total area of reservoirs vary (St. Louis et al. 2000; Shiklomanov and Rodda 2003; Lehner and Döll 2004), but it is clear that their area is substantial compared to that of natural lakes (Downing et al. 2006)....

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  • ...St. Louis et al. (2000) estimated that world artificial reservoirs could emit 0.07 Pg CH4 yr21, 90% of the emissions occurring in the tropics....

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  • ...The contribution from lakes (8–48 Tg yr21; Bastviken et al. 2004a) in combination with the likely emissions from large impoundments (70 Tg yr21; St. Louis et al. 2000) and an expected high but unknown amount of emission from the globally abundant small impoundments such as farm ponds (Downing et…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article used new data sources, enhanced spatial resolution, and new analytical approaches to provide new estimates of the global abundance of surface-water bodies and showed that the global extent of natural lakes is twice as large as previously known.
Abstract: One of the major impediments to the integration of lentic ecosystems into global environmental analyses has been fragmentary data on the extent and size distribution of lakes, ponds, and impoundments. We use new data sources, enhanced spatial resolution, and new analytical approaches to provide new estimates of the global abundance of surface-water bodies. A global model based on the Pareto distribution shows that the global extent of natural lakes is twice as large as previously known (304 million lakes; 4.2 million km2 in area) and is dominated in area by millions of water bodies smaller than 1 km2. Similar analyses of impoundments based on inventories of large, engineered dams show that impounded waters cover approximately 0.26 million km 2 . However, construction of low-tech farm impoundments is estimated to be between 0.1% and 6% of farm area worldwide, dependent upon precipitation, and represents .77,000 km 2 globally, at present. Overall, about 4.6 million km2 of the earth’s continental ‘‘land’’ surface (.3%) is covered by water. These analyses underscore the importance of explicitly considering lakes, ponds, and impoundments, especially small ones, in global analyses of rates and processes.

1,560 citations

References
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Book
01 Jun 1996
TL;DR: The most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment available for scientific understanding of human influences on the past present and future climate is "Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change" as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: This extensive report entitled “Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change” is the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment available for scientific understanding of human influences on the past present and future climate. Its aim is to provide objective information on which to base global climate change that will ultimately meet the aim of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The report includes an overview of the factors governing climate and climate change and quantification of the sources of globally important greenhouse gases and other pollutants arising from human activities. A review of the chemical and biological processes governing their removal from the atmosphere is presented. Also included is an assessment of recent trends in climate during the industrial era which has witnessed the ever-growing impact of human activities on the global environment. The strengths and weaknesses of various climate mathematical models used by researchers for understanding the past and present climate and for calculating possible future climates are assessed. Furthermore the report discusses research aimed at the detection of human influence on the climate of the last century and presents future change projections in global climate and sea level based on a range of scenarios of future emissions of pollutants due to human activity. Finally a list of research and observational priorities needed to improve scientific understanding in key areas is presented.

4,397 citations


"Reservoir Surfaces as Sources of Gr..." refers background in this paper

  • ...On a mass basis, CH4 has a much larger global warming potential than CO2 (21-fold over a 100 year time horizon; Houghton et al. 1996)....

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  • ...On a mass basis, the global warming potential of CH4 relative to CO2 is 21 over a 100-year period (Houghton et al. 1996), the average life span of reservoirs....

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  • ...Our estimate increases this unknown sink of CO2 by approximately 20%, from 1.3 Gt/yr of carbon (Houghton et al. 1996) to 1.6 Gt/yr of carbon (0.3 Gt/yr of carbon as C–CO2; Table 3), by effectively increasing the anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere....

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Book
06 Mar 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a perspective of the global cycle of nitrogen and phosphorous, the global water cycle, and the global sulfur cycle from a global point of view.
Abstract: Part 1 Processes and reactions: origins the atmosphere the lithosphere the terrestrial biosphere biogeochemical cycling on land biogeochemistry in freshwater wetlands and lakes rivers and estuaries the sea. Part 2 Global cycles: the global water cycle the global carbon cycle the global cycle of nitrogen and phosphorous the global sulfur cycle a perspective.

3,871 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Satellite-monitoring of the abundance of open water in the peatlands of the West Siberian Plain and the Hudson/James Bay Lowland is suggested as a likely method of detecting early effects of climatic warming upon boreal and subarctic peatland environments.
Abstract: Boreal and subarctic peatlands comprise a carbon pool of 455 Pg that has accumulated during the postglacial period at an average net rate of 0.096 Pg/yr (1 Pg = 1015g). Using Clymo's (1984) model, the current rate is estimated at 0.076 Pg/yr. Longterm drainage of these peatlands is estimated to be causing the oxidation to CO2 of a little more than 0.0085 Pg/yr, with conbustion of fuel peat adding °0.026 Pg/yr. Emissions of CH4 are estimated to release ° 0.046 Pg of carbon annually. Uncertainties beset estimates of both stocks and fluxes, particularly with regard to Soviet peatlands. The influence of water table alterations upon fluxes of both CO2 and CH4 is in great need of investigation over a wide range of peatland environments, especially in regions where permafrost melting, thermokarst erosion, and the development of thaw lakes are likely results of climatic warming. The role of fire in the carbon cycle of peatlands also deserves increased attention. Finally, satellite—monitoring of the abundance of open water in the peatlands of the West Siberian Plain and the Hudson/James Bay Lowland is suggested as a likely method of detecting early effects of climatic warming upon boreal and subarctic peatlands.

3,546 citations


"Reservoir Surfaces as Sources of Gr..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…forests 2100↓ 1.0↓ Crill 1991, Savage et al. 1997, Fan et al. 1998 Tropical forests 710↓ 0.2↓ Keller et al. 1986, Phillips et al. 1998 Northern peatlands 230↓ 51↑ Gorham 1991 Lakes (worldwide) 700↑ 9↑b Cole et al. 1994, Schlesinger 1997 aDownward arrows indicate net consumption by ecosystem....

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1974-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, the use of a two-layer model to estimate the flux of various gases across the air-sea interface has been described, and the model has been used to estimate flux of different gases across different regions of the world.
Abstract: This article describes the use of a two-layer model to estimate the flux of various gases across the air-sea interface.

1,384 citations


"Reservoir Surfaces as Sources of Gr..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...Diffusive flux of CO2 and CH4 from reservoir surfaces has also been estimated using the thin boundary layer method (Liss and Slater 1974)....

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Book
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: In this article, an introduction to global fresh water issues is presented. But the authors focus on water quality and health, not just water quality, and do not address the issues of water management and economic development.
Abstract: 1. An Introduction to Global Fresh Water Issues 2. World Fresh Water Resources 3. Water Quality and Health 4. Water and Ecosystems 5. Water and Agriculture 6. Water and Energy 7. Water and Economic Development 8. Water, Politics, and International Law 9. Water in the 21st Century

1,224 citations

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