Quantifying greenhouse gas ebullition rates across varying land uses, sediment types, and water temperatures in wetland systems

Abstract

Around the world, wetlands and other aquatic ecosystems release greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere. GHGs escape from these systems through the process of ebullition -- or bubbles being released from the aquatic sediments. Ebullition can account for a major portion of GHG release, but it is often underestimated in global GHG budgets. This experiment aims to determine the factors that influence the ebullition of GHGs such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide by quantifying the gas fluxes that are released in wetland ecosystems from varying land uses, sediment types, and water temperatures. We included wetland sites with varying land uses such as urban, agricultural, pasture, and forested areas. It was found that the relationship between gas volumes and water temperatures were positive, whereas the relationship between gas volumes and sediment organic matter had a negative correlation. As global temperatures increase due to climate change, understanding the rates at which ebullition occur will give us a larger understanding of how this process contributes to the global GHG budget.