Abstract ID: 62

Regional wetland distributions and methane emissions

Remote sensing of the extent of wetlands in well-defined subregions of the Amazon basin has permitted quantitative analyses of wetland distribution and areal coverage and extrapolation of biogeochemical measurements to subregions. Such studies have been conducted from the mesoscale to basin-scale. Total floodable area within the lowland basin (the region less than 500 m above sea level) at 100 m resolution is about 800,000 km2, or 14% of the entire area. The actual floodable area is larger because floodplains of small but very numerous streams, and small wetlands, could not be mapped at 100 m resolution. The mainstem Amazon floodplain, which constitutes less than 2% of the total basin area, accounts for about 12% of the basin&rsquos wetlands. Basinwide, about three-fourths of wetlands are covered by forest, woodland, or shrubland. This geographic information, when combined with measurements of methane from varied habitats, allows improved estimation of the magnitude of these fluxes and partition of the fluxes into subregions

Session:  Biogeochemistry - Floodplain ecosystem processes.

Presentation Type:  Oral