Carbon dioxide partial pressure and carbon fluxes of air-water interface in Taihu Lake, China

Abstract

To obtain carbon dioxide (CO2) flux between water-air interface of Taihu lake, monthly water samplers at 14 sites and the local meteorological data of the lake were collected and analyzed in 1998. Carbon dioxide partial pressures (pCO2) at air-water interface in the lake were calculated using alkalinity, pH, ionic strength, active coefficient, and water temperature. The carbon fluxes at different sublakes and areas were estimated by concentration gradient between water and air in consideration of Schmidt numbers of 600 and daily mean windspeed at 10 m above water surface. The results indicated that the mean values of pCO2 in Wuli Lake, Meiliang Bay, hydrophyte area, west littoral zone, riverine mouths, and the open lake areas were 1 807.8±1 071.4 (mean±standard deviation) μatm (1atm=1.013 25×105Pa), 416.3±217.0 μatm, 576.5±758.8 μatm, 304.2±243.5 μatm, 1 933.6±1 144.7 μatm, and 448.5±202.6 μatm, respectively. Maximum and minimum pCO2 values were found in the hypertrophic (4 053.7 μatm) and the eutrophic (3.2 μatm) areas. The riverine mouth areas have the maximum fluxes (82.0±62.8 mmol/m2a). But there was no significant difference between eutrophic and mesotrophic areas in pCO2 and the flux of CO2. The hydrophyte area, however, has the minimum (−0.58±12.9 mmol/m2a). In respect to CO2 equilibrium, input of the rivers will obviously influence inorganic carbon distribution in the riverine estuary. For example, the annual mean CO2 flux in Zhihugang River estuary was 19 times of that in Meiliang Bay, although the former is only a part of the latter. The sites in the body of the lake show a clear seasonal cycle with pCO2 higher than atmospheric equilibrium in winter, and much lower than atmospheric in summer due to CO2 consumption by photosynthesis. The CO2 amount of the net annual evasion that enters the atmosphere is 28.42×104 t/a, of which those from the west littoral zone and the open lake account for 53.8% and 36.7%, respectively.