J. Michael Waddington

A synthesis of methane emissions from 71 northern, temperate, and subtropical wetlands

Wetlands are the largest natural source of atmospheric methane. Here, we assess controls on methane flux using a database of approximately 19 000 instantaneous measurements from 71 wetland sites located across subtropical, temperate, and northern high latitude regions. Our analyses confirm general controls on wetland methane emissions from soil temperature, water table, and vegetation, but also show that these relationships are modified depending on wetland type (bog, fen, or swamp), region (subarctic to temperate), and disturbance. Fen methane flux was more sensitive to vegetation and less sensitive to temperature than bog or swamp fluxes. The optimal water table for methane flux was consistently below the peat surface in bogs, close to the peat surface in poor fens, and above the peat surface in rich fens. However, the largest flux in bogs occurred when dry 30-day averaged antecedent conditions were followed by wet conditions, while in fens and swamps, the largest flux occurred when both 30-day averaged antecedent and current conditions were wet. Drained wetlands exhibited distinct characteristics, e.g. the absence of large flux following wet and warm conditions, suggesting that the same functional relationships between methane flux and environmental conditions cannot be used across pristine and disturbed wetlands. Together, our results suggest that water table and temperature are dominant controls on methane flux in pristine bogs and swamps, while other processes, such as vascular transport in pristine fens, have the potential to partially override the effect of these controls in other wetland types. Because wetland types vary in methane emissions and have distinct controls, these ecosystems need to be considered separately to yield reliable estimates of global wetland methane release.

Ebullition of methane from peatlands: Does peat act as a signal shredder?

Bubbling (ebullition) of greenhouse gases, particularly methane, from peatlands has been attributed to environmental forcings, such as changes in atmospheric pressure. However, observations from peat soils suggest that ebullition and environmental forcing may not always be correlated and that interactions between bubbles and the peat structure may be the cause of such decoupling. To investigate this possibility, we used a simple computer model (Model of Ebullition and Gas storAge) to simulate methane ebullition from a model peat. We found that lower porosity peat can store methane bubbles for lengthy periods of time, effectively buffering or moderating ebullition so that it no longer reflects bubble production signals. Our results suggest that peat structure may act as a “signal shredder” and needs to be taken into account when measuring and modeling ebullition.

Testing a simple model of gas bubble dynamics in porous media

Bubble dynamics in porous media are of great importance in industrial and natural systems. Of particular significance is the impact that bubble-related emissions (ebullition) of greenhouse gases from porous media could have on global climate (e.g., wetland methane emissions). Thus, predictions of future changes in bubble storage, movement, and ebullition from porous media are needed. Methods exist to predict ebullition using numerical models, but all existing models are limited in scale (spatial and temporal) by high computational demands or represent porous media simplistically. A suitable model is needed to simulate ebullition at scales beyond individual pores or relatively small collections (<10−4 m3) of connected pores. Here we present a cellular automaton model of bubbles in porous media that addresses this need. The model is computationally efficient, and could be applied over large spatial and temporal extent without sacrificing fine-scale detail. We test this cellular automaton model against a physical model and find a good correspondence in bubble storage, bubble size, and ebullition between both models. It was found that porous media heterogeneity alone can have a strong effect on ebullition. Furthermore, results from both models suggest that the frequency distributions of number of ebullition events per time and the magnitude of bubble loss are strongly right skewed, which partly explains the difficulty in interpreting ebullition events from natural systems.

Thermo- and Hydrodynamic Simulation of Variably Saturated Flow in Northern Latitude Peatlands

Peatlands store an estimated one quarter of the Earth’s terrestrial soil carbon. Predominantly found within northern latitudes, peatlands contribute an estimated 17-28% of global methane emissions and therefore play an important role in the global carbon cycle. The application of models attempting to accurately represent the energy and hydrologic mass transfer in peatlands have been limited with application of generic functions of moisture retention and thermal conductivity. We have collected environmental data over a four year period from the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) site, a heavily instrumented fen located in interior Alaska. The objective of this research is to develop several deterministic models of complex energy transfer and multiphase hydrologic processes, simulate and apply them to organic variably saturated soils in peatlands. More complex representations of the unsaturated subsurface and energy transfer within organic soils have the potential to provide insight on the dynamics of subterranean microbiological processes associated with carbon transformations, atmospheric emissions of greenhouse gases, and hydrologic transport. We have used finite element and volume analyses to account for seasonal variations of mass and energy transport. The application of a modified van Genuchten equation for variably saturated flow modeling has been used to account for all hydrologic processes. The results illustrate that the water table has a distinctive non-linear effect on heat transfer and phase change. Results of our study also indicate the importance of variability in thermal conductivity of organic soils and quantify the effect of porosity within application of coupled models.