Drivers of diffusive CH₄ emissions from shallow subarctic lakes on daily to multi-year timescales

Abstract

Abstract. Lakes and reservoirs contribute to regional carbon budgets via significant emissions of climate forcing trace gases. Here, for improved modelling, we use 8 years of floating chamber measurements from three small, shallow subarctic lakes (2010–2017, n=1306) to separate the contribution of physical and biogeochemical processes to the turbulence-driven, diffusion-limited flux of methane (CH4) on daily to multi-year timescales. Correlative data include surface water concentration measurements (2009–2017, n=606), total water column storage (2010–2017, n=237), and in situ meteorological observations. We used the last to compute near-surface turbulence based on similarity scaling and then applied the surface renewal model to compute gas transfer velocities. Chamber fluxes averaged 6.9±0.3 mg CH4 m−2 d−1 and gas transfer velocities (k600) averaged 4.0±0.1 cm h−1. Chamber-derived gas transfer velocities tracked the power-law wind speed relation of the model. Coefficients for the model and dissipation rates depended on shear production of turbulence, atmospheric stability, and exposure to wind. Fluxes increased with wind speed until daily average values exceeded 6.5 m s−1, at which point emissions were suppressed due to rapid water column degassing reducing the water–air concentration gradient. Arrhenius-type temperature functions of the CH4 flux (Ea′=0.90±0.14 eV) were robust (R2≥0.93, p<0.01) and also applied to the surface CH4 concentration (Ea′=0.88±0.09 eV). These results imply that emissions were strongly coupled to production and supply to the water column. Spectral analysis indicated that on timescales shorter than a month, emissions were driven by wind shear whereas on longer timescales variations in water temperature governed the flux. Long-term monitoring efforts are essential to identify distinct functional relations that govern flux variability on timescales of weather and climate change.