Fluxes of CO2 are important for our understanding of the global carbon cycle and greenhouse gas balances. Several significant CO2 fluxes in nature may still be unknown as illustrated by recent findings of high CO2 emissions from aquatic environments, previously not recognized in global carbon balances. Therefore, it is important to develop convenient and affordable ways to measure CO2 in many types of environments. At present, direct measurements of CO2 fluxes from soil or water, or CO2 concentrations in surface water, are typically labor intensive or require costly equipment. We here present an approach with measurement units based on small inexpensive CO2 loggers, originally made for indoor air quality monitoring, that were tested and adapted for field use. Measurements of soil-atmosphere and lake-atmosphere fluxes, as well as of spatiotemporal dynamics of water CO2 concentrations (expressed as the equivalent partial pressure, pCO(2aq)) in lakes and a stream network are provided as examples. Results from all these examples indicate that this approach can provide a cost- and labor-efficient alternative for direct measurements and monitoring of CO2 flux and pCO(2aq) in terrestrial and aquatic environments.

Appropriate methods to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes are critical for our ability to detect fluxes, understand regulation, make adequate priorities for climate change mitigation efforts, and verify that these efforts are effective. Ideally, we need reliable, accessible, and affordable measurements at relevant scales. We surveyed present GHG flux measurement methods, identified from an analysis of >11000 scientific publications and a questionnaire to sector professionals and analysed method pros and cons versus needs for novel methodology. While existing methods are well-suited for addressing certain questions, this presentation presents fundamental limitations relative to GHG flux measurement needs for verifiable and transparent action to mitigate many types of emissions. Cost and non-academic accessibility are key aspects, along with fundamental measurement performance. These method limitations contribute to the difficulties in verifying GHG mitigation efforts for transparency and accountability under the Paris agreement. Resolving this mismatch between method capacity and societal needs is urgently needed for effective climate mitigation. This type of methodological mismatch is common but seems to get high priority in other knowledge domains. The obvious need to prioritize development of accurate diagnosis methods for effective treatments in healthcare is one example. This presentation provides guidance regarding the need to prioritize the development of novel GHG flux measurement methods.

Methane (CH4) is one of the most important greenhouse gases, and an important energy carrier in biogas and natural gas. Its large-scale emission patterns have been unpredictable and the source and sink distributions are poorly constrained. Remote assessment of CH4 with high sensitivity at a m² spatial resolution would allow detailed mapping of the near-ground distribution and anthropogenic sources in landscapes but has hitherto not been possible. Here we show that CH4gradients can be imaged on the <m² scale at ambient levels (~1.8 ppm) and filmed using optimized infrared (IR) hyperspectral imaging. Our approach allows both spectroscopic confirmation and quantification for all pixels in an imaged scene simultaneously. It also has the ability to map fluxes for dynamic scenes. This approach to mapping boundary layer CH4 offers a unique potential way to improve knowledge about greenhouse gases in landscapes and a step towards resolving source–sink attribution and scaling issues.

The transport of gasses dissolved in surface waters across the water-atmosphere interface is controlled by the piston velocity (k). This coefficient has large implications for, e.g., greenhouse gas fluxes but is challenging to quantify in situ. At present, empirical k-wind speed relationships from a small number of studies and systems are often extrapolated without knowledge of model performance. This study compares empirical k estimates from flux chamber and surface water gas concentration measurements (chamber method), eddy cell modeling and dissipation rates of turbulent kinetic energy (dissipation method), and a surface divergence method based on IR imaging, at a fetch limited coastal observation station. We highlight strengths and weaknesses of the methods, and relate measured k values to parameters such as wave height, and surface skin velocities. The chamber and dissipation methods yielded k values in the same order of magnitude over a 24 h period with varying wind conditions (up to 10 m s⁻¹, closest weather station) and wave heights (0.01–0.30 m). The surface divergence method most likely did not resolve the small turbulent eddies that cause the main divergence. Flux chamber estimates showed the largest temporal variability, with lower k values than the dissipation method during calm conditions, where the dissipation method failed as waves and instrument noise dominated over the turbulence signal. There was a strong correspondence between k from chambers, the RMS of surface velocities from IR imaging, and wave height. We propose a method to estimate area integrated values of k from wave measurements.

Lakes are major sources of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere that contribute significantly to the global budget. Recent studies have shown that diffusive fluxes, ebullition and surface water CH4 concentrations can differ significantly within lakes—spatially and temporally. CH4 fluxes may be affected at longer scales in response to seasons, temperature, lake mixing events, short term weather events like pressure variations, shifting winds and diel cycles. Frequent measurements of fluxes in the same system and integrated assessments of the impacts of the spatio-temporal variability are rare. Thereby, large scale assessments frequently lack information on this variability which can potentially lead to biased estimates. In this study, we analysed the variability of CH4 fluxes and surface water CH4 concentrations across open water areas of lakes in a small catchment in southwest Sweden over two annual cycles. Significant patterns in CH4 concentrations, diffusive fluxes, ebullition and total fluxes were observed in space (between and within lakes) and in time (over diel cycles to years). Differences observed among the lakes can be associated with lake characteristics. The spatial variability within lakes was linked to depth or distance to stream inlets. Temporal variability was observed at diel to seasonal scales and was influenced by weather events. The fluxes increased exponentially with temperature in all three lakes, with stronger temperature dependence with decreasing depth. By comparing subsets of our data with estimates using all data we show that considering the spatio-temporal variability in CH4 fluxes is critical when making whole lake or annual budgets.