Changes in the budget of dissolved methane measured in a small temperate lake over 1 year indicate that anoxic conditions in the hypolimnion and the autumn overturn period represent key factors for the overall annual methane emissions from lakes. During periods of stable stratification, large amounts of methane accumulate in anoxic deep waters. Approximately 46% of the stored methane was emitted during the autumn overturn, contributing ∼80% of the annual diffusive methane emissions to the atmosphere. After the overturn period, the entire water column was oxic, and only 1% of the original quantity of methane remained in the water column. Current estimates of global methane emissions assume that all of the stored methane is released, whereas several studies of individual lakes have suggested that a major fraction of the stored methane is oxidized during overturns. Our results provide evidence that not all of the stored methane is released to the atmosphere during the overturn period. However, the fraction of stored methane emitted to the atmosphere during overturn may be substantially larger and the fraction of stored methane oxidized may be smaller than in the previous studies suggesting high oxidation losses of methane. The development or change in the vertical extent and duration of the anoxic hypolimnion, which can represent the main source of annual methane emissions from small lakes, may be an important aspect to consider for impact assessments of climate warming on the methane emissions from lakes.

Methane emissions from lakes and reservoirs are a major natural source in the global budget of atmospheric CH4. A large fraction of these emissions are due to diffusive transport of CH4 from surface waters to the atmosphere. It was suggested recently that CH4 production in the oxic surface waters is required to compensate for diffusive CH4 emissions from lakes. In contrast, we demonstrate here that typical diffusive CH4-fluxes from sediments in shallow water zones, Fsed,S, suffice to explain CH4 emissions to the atmosphere. Our analysis is based on the combination of an exceptional data set on surface concentrations of CH4 with a mass balance model of CH4 that is focused on the surface mixed layer and considers CH4-fluxes from sediments, lateral transport, gas exchange with the atmosphere, and includes temperature dependencies of sediment fluxes and gas exchange. Fsed,S not only explains observed surface CH4 concentrations but also concentration differences between shallow and open water zones, and the seasonal variability of emissions and lateral concentration distributions. Hence, our results support the hypothesis that diffusive fluxes from shallow sediments and not oxic methanogenesis are the main source of the CH4 in the surface waters and the CH4 emitted from lakes and reservoirs.

Estimates of global methane (CH4) emissions from lakes and the contributions of different pathways are currently under debate. In situ methanogenesis linked to algae growth was recently suggested to be the major source of CH4 fluxes from aquatic systems. However, based on our very large data set on CH4 distributions within lakes, we demonstrate here that methane‐enriched water from shallow water zones is the most likely source of the basin‐wide mean CH4 concentrations in the surface water of lakes. Consistently, the mean surface CH4 concentrations are significantly correlated with the ratio between the surface area of the shallow water zone and the entire lake, fA,s/t, but not with the total surface area. The categorization of CH4 fluxes according to fA,s/t may therefore improve global estimates of CH4 emissions from lakes. Furthermore, CH4 concentrations increase substantially with water temperature, indicating that seasonally resolved data are required to accurately estimate annual CH4 emissions.

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Reservoirs are a common way to store and retain water serving for a multitude of purposes like storage of drinking and irrigation water, recreation, flood protection, navigation, and hydropower production, and have been built since centuries. Today, few reservoirs serve only one purpose, which requires management of present demands and interests. Since each reservoir project will cause negative impacts alongside desired advantages both on a local, regional and global scale, it is even more urgent to develop a common management framework in an attempt to mitigate negative impacts, incorporate different demands and make them visible within the discourse in order to avoid conflicts from early on. The scientific publications on reservoirs are manifold, yet a comprehensive and integrative holistic tool about management of this infrastructure is not available. Therefore, a comprehensive and integrated conceptual tool was developed and proposed by the authors of this paper that can contribute to the sustainable management of existing reservoirs. The tool presented herein is based on the results from the interdisciplinary CHARM (CHAllenges of Reservoir Management) project as well as the condensed outcome of relevant literature to aid and enhance knowledge of reservoir management. The incorporated results are based on field, laboratory and empirical social research. The project CHARM focused on five different aspects related to existing reservoirs in southern Germany (Schwarzenbachtalsperre, Franconian Lake District), namely: sedimentation of reservoirs, biostabilisation of fine sediments, toxic cyanobacteria(l) (blooms), greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs and social contestation, respectively consent. These five research foci contributed to the topics and setup of a conceptual tool, put together by the research consortium via delphi questioning, which can be found alongside this publication to provide insights for experts and laymen. Conceptualising and analysing the management in combination with quantitative and qualitative data in one descriptive tool presents a novelty for the case studies and area of research. The distribution within the scientific community and interested public will possibly make a positive contribution to the goal of sustainable water resources management in the future.

Hydropower is considered green energy and promoted to reduce greenhouse warming. However, hydropower is typically generated using reservoirs and reservoirs are known to emit substantial amounts of the greenhouse gas methane (CH 4) to the atmosphere. In many reservoirs ebullition is the dominant pathway of CH 4 emission. We show that continuous diurnal pumped-storage operation, which combines water pumping into the reservoir typically during the night and water drawdown during high demand of electricity, is beneficial for reducing CH 4 ebullition associated with hydropower generation. This conclusion is based on ebullition fluxes and water levels measured over 3 months in Schwarzenbach reservoir located in Germany. The reservoir was managed using three modes of operation: (1) diurnal pumping and turbination, (2) no pumping and no turbination, and (3) diurnal turbination. Cross-correlation analysis indicates that ebullition fluxes predominantly occur during diurnal water level decrease associated with turbination. Consistently, average ebullition fluxes of CH 4 were negligible during Mode (2) and substantial during Modes (1) and (3). During Mode (3) the average CH 4 ebullition flux was~197 mg m −2 day −1 ,~12 times larger than during Mode (1) (16 mg m −2 day −1). Our data indicate that overall CH 4 ebullition is about 3 times larger during 51 days of operation consisting of 38 days of no turbination followed by 13 days of diurnal turbination than during 51 days of continuous diurnal pumped-storage operation. This suggests that continuous diurnal pumped-storage operation leads to reduced CH 4 ebullition from reservoirs and is therefore advantageous compared to modes of operations involving long-term, large-amplitude turbination cycles. However, inland waters and thus also reservoirs are important components of the regional and global carbon cycle (

Here we investigate the diel vertical migration (DVM) of the different larval stages of Chaoborus flavicans between spring and summer in two different lakes and three different years. Specific attention is given to the influence of the vertical distribution of dissolved oxygen (DO) on the DVM of the different larval instars. To our knowledge, this study is the first that combines continuous observations of DVM of C. flavicans with continuous measurements of DO distributions over several months, allowing the assessment of changes in DVM due to the development of hyperoxic conditions in the deep water of lakes. With ontogenetic development, C. flavicans larvae increase their sensitivity to changes in light intensity and their tolerance to low oxygen conditions. Our results suggest that the physiological changes of C. flavicans larvae are adaptations to seasonal changes in DO, improving migration abilities to enable utilization of hypoxic and anoxic waters to avoid predation. Interannual change in the abundance and vertical distribution of phytoplankton affecting DO concentrations was sufficient to alter DVM patterns of C. flavicans larvae between years.

Abstract. Reservoirs can emit substantial amounts of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) via different emission pathways. In some reservoirs, reservoir flushing is employed as a sediment management strategy to counteract growing sediment deposits that threaten reservoir capacity. Reservoir flushing utilizes the eroding force of water currents during water level drawdown to mobilize and transport sediment deposits through the dam outlet into the downstream river. During this process, CH4 that is stored in the sediment can be released into the water and degas to the atmosphere resulting in CH4 emissions. Here, we assess the significance of this CH4 emission pathway and compare it to other CH4 emission pathways from reservoirs. We measured seasonal and spatial CH4 concentrations in the sediment of Schwarzenbach Reservoir, providing one of the largest datasets on CH4 pore water concentrations in freshwater systems. Based on this dataset we determined CH4 fluxes from the sediment and estimated potential CH4 emissions due to reservoir flushing. CH4 emissions due to one flushing operation can constitute 7–14 % of the typical annual CH4 emissions from Schwarzenbach Reservoir, whereby the amount of released CH4 depends on the timing of the flushing operation within the season. The larger the thickness of the sediment layer mobilized during the flushing operation the larger the average CH4 concentration per unit volume of flushed sediment. This suggests that regular flushing of smaller sediment layers releases less CH4 than removal of the same sediment volume in fewer flushing events of thicker sediment layers. In other reservoirs with higher sediment loadings than Schwarzenbach Reservoir, reservoir flushing could cause substantial CH4 emissions, especially when flushing operations are conducted frequently. Therefore, CH4 emissions due to reservoir flushing must be included in estimates of annual overall greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs that are subject to regular flushing operations.