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Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Reservoir Water Surfaces: A New Global Synthesis

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Deemer, Bridget R., Harrison, John A., Li, Siyue, Beaulieu, Jake J., DelSontro, Tonya, Barros, Nathan, Bezerra-Neto, José F., Powers, Stephen M., dos Santos, Marco A., Vonk, J. Arie·2016·BioScience
DOI 10.1093/biosci/biw117
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Abstract

Collectively, reservoirs created by dams are thought to be an important source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere.So far, efforts to quantify, model, and manage these emissions have been limited by data availability and inconsistencies in methodological approach.Here, we synthesize reservoir CH 4 , CO 2 , and N 2 O emission data with three main objectives: (1) to generate a global estimate of GHG emissions from reservoirs, (2) to identify the best predictors of these emissions, and (3) to consider the effect of methodology on emission estimates.We estimate that GHG emissions from reservoir water surfaces account for 0.8 (0.5-1.2) Pg CO 2 equivalents per year, with the majority of this forcing due to CH 4 .We then discuss the potential for several alternative pathways such as dam degassing and downstream emissions to contribute significantly to overall emissions.Although prior studies have linked reservoir GHG emissions to reservoir age and latitude, we find that factors related to reservoir productivity are better predictors of emission.

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Metadata

Authors
Deemer, B. R., Harrison, J. A., Li, S., Beaulieu, J. J., DelSontro, T., Barros, N., Bezerra-Neto, J. F., Powers, S. M., dos Santos, M. A., & Vonk, J. A.
Venue
BioScience
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2016-10-05
Volume
66
Issue
11
Pages
949-964
ISSN
  • 0006-3568 (ISSN-L)
  • 1525-3244
DOI
10.1093/biosci/biw117
OpenAlex
W2527674082
Cited by
972
References
5
FWCI
48.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid
Licence
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (vor, 85 d)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670473)
  • European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)
  • National Science Foundation (135211)
  • US Environmental Protection Agency STAR Fellowship (FP917450)
  • NSF IGERT Fellowship (0903714)

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Deemer, B. R., Harrison, J. A., Li, S., Beaulieu, J. J., DelSontro, T., Barros, N., Bezerra-Neto, J. F., Powers, S. M., dos Santos, M. A., & Vonk, J. A. (2016). Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Reservoir Water Surfaces: A New Global Synthesis. BioScience. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biw117

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