Quantification of Terrestrial CO2 Sources to a Headwater Streamin a Boreal Forest Catchment
Abstract:
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from streams are a significant component of the global carbon cycle.Terrestrial export of CO2 through runoff is increasingly recognized as a major source of CO2 in boreal headwater streams. However, the spatial and temporal distribution of soil water CO2 within theterrestrial landscape remains poorly quantified, contributing to large uncertainties about the origin of CO2 in headwater streams. The riparian zone (i.e. the area with fine sediments and organic rich soils closest to the stream) is accepted as a main contributor of organic carbon to streams, but its importanceas a source of CO2 is less evident. Here I evaluate the riparian zone as a main source by quantifying the contribution of lateral CO2 export from the riparian and hillslope zones to a headwater stream in a Swedish boreal catchment. Hourly measurements of CO2 concentration, conductivity, soil temperature and water table levels were taken in the riparian zone and the hillslope from June 2014 to October 2015. The riparian zone accounted for 58-89 % (August 2014 and March respectively) of the total terrestrial CO2 export from the slope to the stream. The hillslope, in turn, became a progressively larger source of CO2 to the stream during high flow events. To identify the drivers behind these zone-dependent and seasonal patterns in CO2 export, the CO2 production dissolved in the groundwater (groundwater- absorbed carbon) was estimated by taking the temporarily stored CO2 into account. The highest groundwater-absorbed carbon was observed during April and May (5.0 and 7.1 g C-CO2 m-2 month-1 respectively) which is the period with the highest discharge due to snow melt and the initiation of spring production. As such, conventional methods (gas chambers and the gradient method) may underestimate the soil respiration up to 50% during periods of high flow, as they exclude groundwater-absorbed carbon. CO2 consumption was observed in September 2014 and October 2015 (-0.2 and -0.7 g C-CO2 m-2 month-1 respectively) and may be explained by a major amount of the soil respiration being emitted instead of diluted in the groundwater during periods of low groundwater levels. It can be concludedthat, regardless of season, the riparian zone is a major source of CO2 to the headwater stream.
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