Journal article
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Reservoir Water Surfaces: A New Global Synthesis.
- Deemer BR School of the Environment at Washington State University, in Vancouver.
- Harrison JA School of the Environment at Washington State University, in Vancouver.
- Li S Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Chongqing, China.
- Beaulieu JJ US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development and National Risk Management Research Laboratory, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
- DelSontro T Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Québec at Montréal, in Canada, and was formerly at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
- Barros N Institute of Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- Bezerra-Neto JF Institute of Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- Powers SM School of the Environment and the Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach at Washington State University, in Pullman.
- Dos Santos MA Energy Planning Program, COPPE, and Centro de Tecnologia at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.
- Vonk JA Department of Aquatic Environmental Ecology of the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics at the University of Amsterdam, in The Netherlands.
- 2020-08-18
Published in:
- Bioscience. - 2016
English
Collectively, reservoirs created by dams are thought to be an important source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere. So far, efforts to quantify, model, and manage these emissions have been limited by data availability and inconsistencies in methodological approach. Here, we synthesize reservoir CH4, CO2, and N2O emission data with three main objectives: (1) to generate a global estimate of GHG emissions from reservoirs, (2) to identify the best predictors of these emissions, and (3) to consider the effect of methodology on emission estimates. We estimate that GHG emissions from reservoir water surfaces account for 0.8 (0.5-1.2) Pg CO2 equivalents per year, with the majority of this forcing due to CH4. We then discuss the potential for several alternative pathways such as dam degassing and downstream emissions to contribute significantly to overall emissions. Although prior studies have linked reservoir GHG emissions to reservoir age and latitude, we find that factors related to reservoir productivity are better predictors of emission.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1093/biosci/biw117
- PMID 32801383
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/112117
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