The magnitude of diffusive carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emission from man-made reservoirs is uncertain because the spatial variability generally is not well-represented. Here, we examine the spatial variability and its drivers for partial pressure, gas-exchange velocity (k), and diffusive flux of CO2 and CH4 in three tropical reservoirs using spatially resolved measurements of both gas concentrations and k. We observed high spatial variability in CO2 and CH4 concentrations and flux within all three reservoirs, with river inflow areas generally displaying elevated CH4 concentrations. Conversely, areas close to the dam are generally characterized by low concentrations and are therefore not likely to be representative for the whole system. A large share (44–83%) of the within-reservoir variability of gas concentration was explained by dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll, water depth, and within-reservoir location. High spatial variability in k was observed, and kCH4 was persistently higher (on average, 2.5 times more) than kCO2. Not accounting for the within-reservoir variability in concentrations and k may lead to up to 80% underestimation of whole-system diffusive emission of CO2 and CH4. Our findings provide valuable information on how to develop field-sampling strategies to reliably capture the spatial heterogeneity of diffusive carbon fluxes from reservoirs.

We investigated the role of lake sediments as carbon (C) source and sink in the annual C budget of a small (0.07 km 2 ) and shallow (mean depth, 3.4 m), humic lake in boreal Sweden. Organic carbon (OC) burial and mineralization in the sediments were quantified from 210 Pb-dated sediment and laboratory sediment incubation experiments, respectively. Burial and mineralization rates were then upscaled to the entire basin and to one whole year using sediment thickness derived from sub-bottom profiling, basin morphometry, and water column monitoring data of temperature and oxygen concentration. Furthermore, catchment C import, open water metabolism, photochemical mineralization as well as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) emissions to the atmosphere were quantified to relate sediment processes to other lake C fluxes. We found that on a whole-basin and annual scale, sediment OC mineralization was three times larger than OC burial, and contributed about 16% to the annual CO 2 emission. Other contributions to CO 2 emission were water column metabolism (31%), photochemical mineralization (6%), and catchment imports via inlet streams and inflow of shallow groundwater (22%). The remainder (25%) could not be explained by our flux calculations, but was most likely attributed to an underestimation in groundwater inflow. We conclude that on an annual and whole-basin scale (1) sediment OC mineralization dominated over OC burial, (2) water column OC mineralization contributed more to lake CO 2 emission than sediment OC mineralization, and (3) catchment import of C to the lake was greater than lake-internal C cycling.

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Lakes are highly relevant players in the global carbon cycle as they can store large amounts of organic carbon (OC) in sediments, thereby removing OC from the actively cycling pool. However, sediment OC can be released to pore water under anoxic conditions and diffuse into the water column. In carbon budgets of lake ecosystems, this potential OC loss pathway from sediments is generally disregarded. Combining field observations and incubation experiments, we quantitatively investigated dissolved OC (DOC) diffusion from sediments into anoxic water of a boreal lake. We observed substantial increases of bottom water DOC (26% in situ, 16% incubation), translating into a DOC flux from the sediment that was comparable to anoxic sediment respiration (3.3 versus 5.1 mmol m−2 d−1). Optical characterization indicated that colored and aromatic DOC was preferentially released. Reactivity assays showed that DOC released from anoxic sediment enhanced water column respiration and flocculation in reoxygenated water. Upon water oxygenation, flocculation was the most important loss pathway removing ~77% of released DOC, but the remaining ~23% was mineralized, constituting a pathway of permanent loss of sediment OC. DOC diffusion from lake sediment during anoxia and subsequent mineralization in oxic water during mixing increases overall OC loss from anoxic sediments by ~15%. This study enlarges our understanding of lake ecosystems by showing that under anoxic conditions significant amounts of DOC can be released from OC stored in sediments and enter the active aquatic carbon cycle again.

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