The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Default user image.

Anders Lindroth

Professor

Default user image.

Methane exchange in a boreal forest estimated by gradient method

Author

  • Elin Sundqvist
  • Meelis Mölder
  • Patrick Crill
  • Natascha Kljun
  • Anders Lindroth

Summary, in English

Forests are generally considered to be net sinks of atmospheric methane (CH4) because of oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria in well-aerated forests soils. However, emissions from wet forest soils, and sometimes canopy fluxes, are often neglected when quantifying the CH4 budget of a forest. We used a modified Bowen ratio method and combined eddy covariance and gradient methods to estimate net CH4 exchange at a boreal forest site in central Sweden. Results indicate that the site is a net source of CH4. This is in contrast to soil, branch and leaf chamber measurements of uptake of CH4. Wetter soils within the footprint of the canopy are thought to be responsible for the discrepancy. We found no evidence for canopy emissions per se. However, the diel pattern of the CH4 exchange with minimum emissions at daytime correlated well with gross primary production, which supports an uptake in the canopy. More distant source areas could also contribute to the diel pattern; their contribution might be greater at night during stable boundary layer conditions.

Department/s

  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Publication/Series

Tellus. Series B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume

67

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Topic

  • Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • micrometeorology
  • Bowen ratio
  • eddy covariance
  • footprint
  • wet soil

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0280-6509