Abstract
Dumps are important anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, mostly CH4. However, few studies on the subject have been carried out in the Amazon region. Several factors affect the production and emission of dumps gas. The objective of this study was to quantify the spatial variation of CO2 and CH4 production in an Amazon dump and try to associate the relative importance of some environmental factors with the fluxes. This study was carried out in an open-air dump in the metropolitan region of Belém, where approximately 11.0 million Mg of waste was deposited in 25 years, of which 6.4 million Mg was organic. The emission rates of CH4 and CO2 from the surface of the dump were determined using the closed dynamic flux chamber technique. The study was conducted in three cells of different ages, sampled in two moments between the Amazon rainy and dry season. The Aura dump has an area of 30 ha and emits a total of 51.49 Mg CO2 ha-1 month-1 and 3.16 Mg CH4 ha-1 month-1 to the atmosphere. This results in an expressive production of 1,359,961.04 Mg CO2-e year-1, being that 58.54% is due to CH4 flux. The spatial variability in CO2 and CH4 flux is very large, especially for CH4, forming hotspots of high concentrations, and perhaps because of this, the flow has not been correlated with micrometeorological variations.
Highlights
Atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations have increased to over 1,800 ppb in 2016 (IPCC, 2013; REAY et al, 2018), of which 70% result from anthropogenic activities such as rice cultivation, domestic ruminants, biomass burning, leakage of natural gas, coal mining, landfills, and the remainder from natural wetlands (MATTHEWS; THEMELIS, 2007)
No studies have addressed how much Amazonian dumps produce and how long these deactivated dumps have contributed to global warming with carbon dioxide (CO2) and CH4 emissions
Global CH4 emissions are responsible for approximately 40% of the global warming in the last 150 years (HANSEN et al, 2013), given that its global warming potential (GWP, molar basis, 100-year period) is about 21 to 27 times greater than that of CO2 (AGAMUTHU, 2013; LELIEVELD et al, 1998)
Summary
Atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations have increased to over 1,800 ppb in 2016 (IPCC, 2013; REAY et al, 2018), of which 70% result from anthropogenic activities such as rice cultivation, domestic ruminants, biomass burning, leakage of natural gas, coal mining, landfills, and the remainder from natural wetlands (MATTHEWS; THEMELIS, 2007). Global CH4 emissions are responsible for approximately 40% of the global warming in the last 150 years (HANSEN et al, 2013), given that its global warming potential (GWP, molar basis, 100-year period) is about 21 to 27 times greater than that of CO2 (AGAMUTHU, 2013; LELIEVELD et al, 1998). This is due to the high ultraviolet absorption coefficient and long residence time in the atmosphere (IPCC, 2013; LELIEVELD et al, 1998)
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