Deploying Methane Bubble Traps at Varying Lake Depths to Validate Bubble Dissolution Models
Abstract
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and understanding environmental methane cycles is critical both to developing accurate estimates of current methane emission rates and to modeling how cycles may respond to climate change. While there are many natural sources of methane, bubbling from lake sediments, or ebullition, is considered an important emission pathway. Ebullition can transport methane directly to the atmosphere, bypassing potential chemical or biological degradation in the water column. Existing bubble models predict some methane dissolution from rising bubbles, though dissolution estimates depend on the particular equations chosen to parameterize bubble rise velocity and gas transfer rates. To test current bubble dissolution models we installed a series of bubble traps at multiple depths in Upper Mystic Lake near Boston, Massachusetts. Traps gathered bubbles continuously during the summer of 2013 and were periodically emptied for gas volume measurements and chemical composition analysis. The gathered trap data demonstrated that surface traps have a significantly reduced bubble volume and methane fraction when compared with lake-bottom traps. This difference allows us to quantify the amount of methane dissolved in the water column due to ebullition. Preliminary data suggest that dissolution from bubbles could account for approximately 5% of the previously observed hypolimnetic methane accumulation in Upper Mystic Lake. Bubble methane contents in surface traps are consistent with average bubble sizes in the 3-6 mm diameter range based on the bubble models of McGinnis et al, 2006, and suggest that on the order of 50% of methane released by ebullition in this lake is dissolved before reaching the atmosphere. Data also indicates that careful corrections may be needed to account for small amounts of potential gas losses associated with dissolution at the gas/water interface within the traps. Using the gathered data to understand bubble size distributions, calculate methane dissolution quantities, and to calibrate simultaneous sonar studies of ebullition (Scandella et al) will help us develop a detailed lake-wide methane budget. In turn, understanding how ebullition impacts lake-wide methane cycling can lead to better predictive models of lake methane emissions under different climate change scenarios.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.B53B0459D
- Keywords:
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- 0428 BIOGEOSCIENCES Carbon cycling;
- 0458 BIOGEOSCIENCES Limnology;
- 0466 BIOGEOSCIENCES Modeling;
- 0429 BIOGEOSCIENCES Climate dynamics