Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Waste Lagoon

Abstract

<abstract><title><italic>Abstract. </italic></title> A cost-effective approach was used to investigate the relationship between emission of the greenhouse gases (GHG), namely, CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O and energy fluxes from a swine waste lagoon. Energy fluxes were calculated using the Penman method. The energy fluxes showed a diurnal pattern as expected of such fluxes. We found that air temperature and latent energy, lagoon surface temperature and solar radiation, as well as air temperature and wind speed can be used to predict for CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O emissions, respectively. Comparison of observed and predicted emissions provided r² values of 0.49, 0.61, and 0.69 for CH₄, N₂O, and CO₂, respectively. This research shows that long-term studies of GHG emissions and meteorological conditions are necessary to better understand the factors controlling the emissions of GHG in order to devise best management practices (BMP) for their control.