Analysis of the results from the applied technologies for carbon dioxide sampling in aquatic ecosystems

Abstract

Globally, streams and rivers contain important stocks of carbon dioxide and release 1.8 ± 0.25 Pg of carbon each year. The literature review demonstrates that wetlands carbon sequestration capacity and effluxes are not homogenous. Considering those differences, it is crucial to comprehend how these effluxes vary depending on the characteristics of open water plots and areas with vegetation along river basins and how different weather conditions affect the variation of CO2 efflux. The purpose of this study was to analyse the various plots along Dambovita river’s watercourse in order to better understand the fluctuation of the CO2 efflux at the water-atmosphere interface and its dependent parameters. Here, we applied two complimentary methods with close chambers: dynamic by respiration chamber and static by injection kit in order to describe CO2 efflux data sets. Additionally, we measured simultaneously the weather parameters (air temperature, precipitation, wind speed), but also the water quality parameters. The CO2 efflux results are a starting point for improving the emission factor for rivers in temperate climate zone, which is 1.46 for default values at the country level. Also, the analysis performed contributes to a better understanding of how spatial and temporal variability of river characteristics impacts CO2 effluxes.