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Eutrophication will increase methane emissions from lakes and impoundments during the 21st century
Citation:
Beaulieu, J., T. DelSontro, AND J. Downing. Eutrophication will increase methane emissions from lakes and impoundments during the 21st century. Nature Communications. Nature Publishing Group, London, Uk, 10(1375):1-5, (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09100-5
Impact/Purpose:
Inland waters (lakes, ponds, stream, rivers) are important in the global carbon cycle. Recent research shows that, from an atmospheric and climate change perspective, methane (CH4) is the most important of these, constituting >70% of the climate impact. Further, a recent analysis shows that measures of aquatic productivity are likely the most important drivers of the methane emissions by inland waters. Because aquatic productivity will increase greatly over the next century, driven by warming, increased runoff of production-limiting nutrients, and excess nutrients from augmented agricultural production and human sewage release, here we analyze the future impacts of increased production on CH4 emissions. Conservatively, inland waters productivity will increase by 50-300%, and this will drive up CH4 emissions by 30-100 Tg of CH4-C y-1 (or by 30-90 %). This increased CH4emission has a potential atmospheric CO2 impact of 1.8-2.6 Pg C-CO2eq yr-1, which is equivalent to 19-33 % of the effect of annual emissions of CO2 from burning fossil fuels. Thus it is not only important to limit eutrophication to preserve fragile water supplies but also to avoid acceleration of anthropogenic climate change.
Description:
Inland waters (lakes, ponds, stream, rivers) are important in the global carbon cycle. Recent research shows that, from an atmospheric and climate change perspective, methane (CH4) is the most important of these, constituting >70% of the climate impact. Further, a recent analysis shows that measures of aquatic productivity are likely the most important drivers of the methane emissions by inland waters. Because aquatic productivity will increase greatly over the next century, driven by warming, increased runoff of production-limiting nutrients, and excess nutrients from augmented agricultural production and human sewage release, here we analyze the future impacts of increased production on CH4 emissions. Conservatively, inland waters productivity will increase by 50-300%, and this will drive up CH4 emissions by 30-100 Tg of CH4-C y-1 (or by 30-90 %). This increased CH4emission has a potential atmospheric CO2 impact of 1.8-2.6 Pg C-CO2eq yr-1, which is equivalent to 19-33 % of the effect of annual emissions of CO2 from burning fossil fuels. Thus it is not only important to limit eutrophication to preserve fragile water supplies but also to avoid acceleration of anthropogenic climate change.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Eutrophication will increase methane emissions from lakes and impoundments during the 21st century
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