Summer CO2 fluxes : A field study from three large lakes in Sweden

Abstract: Increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is a contributing cause to climate change. To give a better understanding, natural sources of CO2 is as important as anthropogenic sources, such as burning fossil fuels. The current role of large boreal lakes as emitters of CO2 are poorly understood and there is a clear lack of data from different types of systems. The aim of this thesis was to examine CO2 fluxes from Roxen, Glan and Vättern, three large lakes in Sweden. The purpose of the study was also to compare different approaches to get empirical CO2 flux data, and to investigate if there was difference between the lakes and study periods. Floating chambers were used as method with both direct measured fluxes and calculated fluxes. The direct fluxes were measured with sensors equipped inside the chambers. The calculated fluxes were obtained with gas samples from the chambers, water samples and wind speed in k-wind models. The results showed both temporal and spatial variability between the periods and the lakes. The results also showed a difference between the methods, where CO2 fluxes from sensors (direct measurements) ranged from -36 to 152 mmol m-2 d-1 and the calculated fluxes from the CC-model (Cole & Caraco 1998) ranged from –29 to 58 mmol m-2 d-1.