Methane fluxes from the Baltic Sea: A first look at measured fluxes of shallow near-coastal waters using floating chambers
2010 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Methane is an important green house gas as it is responsible for 15-20 % of the green house effect. Marine environments in general and shallow near-coastal waters specifically may be important contributors of methane emissions but are as of today poorly studied. In this study we measured total fluxes of methane from shallow near-coastal waters at two sites along the east coast of Sweden. The sea-to-air emissions of methane where captured using floating chambers. This gave measured fluxes as compared to earlier studies of the Baltic Sea where calculated fluxes are often used. Measured fluxes have the merit of not having to rely on several highly varying and complex variables e.g. mean wind speed and piston velocity that vary and give an uncertainty to the results. The fluxes ranged from -2.14 to 0.37 mg CH4 m-2 d-1 with a mean of 0.05 mg CH4 m-2 d-1. The results show a correlation, however not strong, between depth and methane. No difference in flux between the study sites could be seen. We look forward to further studies using floating chambers on shallow near-coastal waters with longer sampling periods to catch seasonal variations.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2010. , p. 14
Keywords [en]
Methane emission, methane flux, ebullition, diffusion, shallow near-coastal waters, total fluxes, floating chambers.
National Category
Social Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-58974ISRN: LIU-TEMA/MV-C--10/18--SEOAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-58974DiVA, id: diva2:347680
Presentation
2010-06-09, K23, Bredgatan 33, Norrköping, 16:15 (English)
Uppsok
Life Earth Science
Supervisors
Examiners
2010-10-052010-09-032010-10-05Bibliographically approved