Pilot Experiments on Air-Water Exchange of Carbon Dioxide in the Amazon Basin
Simone
R.
Alin, University of Washington, salin@u.washington.edu
(Presenting)
Scott
Dennis
Miller, University of California Irvine, sdmiller@uci.edu
Alex
Vladimir
Krusche, CENA/USP, alex@cena.usp.br
Jeffrey
E.
Richey, University of Washington, jrichey@u.washington.edu
Average carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in Amazon waters have been measured at approximately an order of magnitude more concentrated than atmospheric concentrations, leading to a significant water-to-air outgassing. Relatively little research has been done to directly measure these fluxes; most computations have depended on a parameterized exchange coefficient and the difference in partial pressure between water and air. We report here on a suite of pilot experiments to measure outgassing more directly. These experiments include boat-mounted eddy covariance measurements, compared to floating flux chambers, and gradient fluxes. A comparative analysis of the relative benefits and pitfalls of each method will be presented, along with preliminary measurements of CO2 fluxes.