Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2025
11:19
Measuring Carbon-based Contaminant Mineralization Using Combined CO2 Flux and Radiocarbon Analyses
Published on: October 21, 2016
11.9K
Carbon emission from the Lower Ob River floodplain during spring flood
Sergey N Vorobyev1, Yuri Kolesnichenko1, Jan Karlsson2
1BIO-GEO-CLIM Laboratory, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia.
The Science of the Total Environment
|September 16, 2024
Summary
Arctic rivers, especially their floodplains, are significant carbon sources. Floodplain lakes and secondary channels emit more CO2 than the main river stem, highlighting the need to include high water levels in global carbon emission assessments.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Climate Science
- Geochemistry
Background:
- Arctic rivers play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, acting as a positive feedback mechanism in climate warming.
- The contribution of extensive floodplains, temporary water bodies, and secondary channels to carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange in Arctic rivers remains understudied compared to main stems and tributaries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the relative contribution of various water bodies within the Arctic Ob River basin to the carbon cycle.
- To assess the impact of floodplain features like secondary channels and lakes on carbon emissions during the spring flood period.
Main Methods:
- Field measurements of hydrochemical variables and greenhouse gases (GHG) concentrations and fluxes across a 900 km transect of the Lower Ob River floodplain during peak spring flood.
- Analysis of CO2 and methane (CH4) fluxes using chamber methods.
- Statistical analysis of multi-parametric data.
- Utilizing Landsat-8 satellite imagery to determine floodplain water coverage.
Main Results:
- Floodplain lakes and secondary channels are significant contributors to carbon emissions, exceeding the flux from the main stem and tributaries.
- Terrestrial organic matter-rich flooded wetlands (fens) increase CO2 emissions, while groundwater discharge sites in secondary channels reduce them.
- CO2 emissions from Lower Ob River floodplain water surfaces during spring flood were 0.73 ± 0.25 Tg C, with floodplain lakes contributing 59% and the main stem 34%.
- Diffuse CH4 flux was less than 1% of the total carbon flux.
- Floodplain water coverage reached 30% during spring flood, significantly higher than baseflow conditions (18%).
Conclusions:
- Carbon emissions from Arctic rivers can be underestimated by at least three times if measurements are solely based on summer low-flow conditions.
- Accurate assessment of global riverine carbon emissions requires accounting for extended water surfaces and associated emissions during high water levels, particularly in Arctic river floodplains.
- The study emphasizes the critical role of floodplain dynamics in the Arctic carbon cycle and its implications for climate feedback mechanisms.
More Related Videos
12:50Continuous Instream Monitoring of Nutrients and Sediment in Agricultural Watersheds
Published on: September 26, 2017
11.2K
09:03Assessment of Methane and Nitrous Oxide Fluxes from Paddy Field by Means of Static Closed Chambers Maintaining Plants Within Headspace
Published on: September 6, 2018
12.2K
Related Concept Videos
01:17Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment
41
Flood risk assessment involves careful planning and analysis to ensure the safety of communities near water retention structures. Capacity contours are a vital tool in this process, as they illustrate the potential spread of water at specific levels in a given area. In the context of building a bund across a small valley, these contours play a critical role in evaluating the safety of nearby residential areas.In this example, the bund is intended to store stormwater in the valley. The engineers...
41
01:46The Calvin Benson Cycle
4.5K
Ribulose 1,5- bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) is a critical enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide assimilation during photosynthesis. However, it is an inefficient enzyme, having an extremely slow catalytic rate. A typical enzyme can process about a thousand molecules per second; however, RuBisCo fixes only around three-carbon dioxides per second. Photosynthetic cells compensate for this slow rate by synthesizing very high amounts of RuBisCo, making it the most abundant single...
4.5K
02:41Responses to Drought and Flooding
10.6K
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
10.6K
01:50Global Climate Change
24.3K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
24.3K
01:57Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss
25.2K
Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
25.2K
01:14The Carbon Cycle
37.1K
Carbon is the basis of all organic matter on Earth, and is recycled through the ecosystem in two primary processes: one in which carbon is exchanged among living organisms, and one in which carbon is cycled over long periods of time through fossilized organic remains, weathering of rocks, and volcanic activity. Human activities, including increased agricultural practices and the burning of fossil fuels, has greatly affected the balance of the natural carbon cycle.
37.1K